A Laugher: C’s 119, Pistons 93
Posted by Brian Robb on Mar 15, 2010
ESPN Recap • Piston Powered • Detroit Bad Boys
Back to back Gino sightings? It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the guy in two straight home games, but the Celtics responded tonight on the 2nd half of a back to back, with arguably their best effort, start to finish, of the season in a 26 point victory. Yes, it was against the Pistons, but with so few strong all around performances to point to in the last couple months, any kind of impressive effort is noteworthy at this point. This one, for the 1st half anyway, was a masterpiece.
It started with Paul Pierce tonight. The man came out with a purpose this evening, attacking the basket relentlessly in the first 8 minutes, earning 12 points and 3 trips to the line before exiting to the bench with 2 fouls with 4 minutes left in the frame. By that point, the damage had been done. The rest of the starting unit took a cue from The Captain and were sharp on both ends of the floor.
Ball movement? How does 34 assists sound, a season high. Strong rotations on defense? The best we’ve seen in awhile, just 38 percent shooting in 1st half for the Pistons and only 14 points in the paint. The C’s played stingy and were forcing a bad 3 point shooting team to take nearly a third of their shot attempts from deep early on. A sense of urgency? Everyone came ready to play, with all 12 players in uniform getting on the board and 7 players scoring in double figures. Attacking the basket? Check. It was pretty to watch.
38 percent shooting for Detroit in the first 24 minutes, 20 percent from deep, 10 turnovers overall. This was a flashback to the last 2 years at home where this crew would tear up inferior opponents in all areas of the floor. The C’s imposed that kind of game at will tonight on this lifeless Piston squad.
The stat of the night though came on the offensive end. Just 1 turnover in the entire 1st half. Zach Lowe might have a heart attack when he sees this one on DVR. Just an incredible number, given how prone this team has been to making mistakes this year.
The Pistons are also one of the better teams in the league in this category, ranking 6th in the league in terms of percentage of miscues forced. Naturally, the C’s had 10 turnovers in the 2nd half, finishing with 11 overall, but those final 24 minutes were garbage time in all honesty. This one was over at halftime.
The bench responded after one of their worst efforts with one of their best. 57 points off the pine, everyone got into the act. With the starters coming out strong out of the gate, the bench picked up the slack, expanding the lead and sustaining the fire, the C’s starters brought on early in this one. Fun to watch
A few more items of note before we get to some post game reaction from the locker room and bullets. First off, it won’t show up in the numbers but Rajon Rondo was just as key to this team’s play tonight as anyone else. 3 points on 1 of 5 shooting, 2 boards, 6 assists and 3 turnovers would seem like a fairly forgettable night.
However, out of the gate, Rondo had his foot on the gas, pushing this team up the floor with authority. KG, Perk and Doc referred to the importance of number 9 setting the tone early on in this one. So while Pierce may get the glory with his early numbers, Rondo deserves credit for bringing it on both ends (4 steals) and playing smart basketball (0 turnovers in 1st half) when the team needed it most. This team will go as Rondo does over the next 2 months…..the numbers don’t matter, it’s the tone he sets. The team thrives on it.
KG’s take on the early effort, “Rondo sets the tone, and everybody follows, and when Paul is aggressive like he is, there isn’t a forward in the world that could play him, a player who could guard him.”
So what do we make of all this? Well first off, let’s be real about Detroit. They are easily one of the worst 3 teams in the league right now, especially with no Rodney Stuckey or Ben Wallace in there. Tayshaun Prince got hurt early in this one too, the C’s were already cruising at that juncture, but it probably didn’t help things either. So two back to back blowouts at home against terrible teams, may be good news, but has to be kept in perspective.
On the other hand, this is a team that has floundered at home all year long. So two back to back blowouts….against anyone is something to write home about. This was the first time in a long time this team really seemed to give a crap. They worked hard on both ends, busted their ass to get in position, won the battle of the boards easily (36-27) held their own on the offensive glass (8-8)Â and just played smart fundamental basketball.
We have seen flashes of this before, and it could be fool’s goal to a degree. We’d be blind not to consider that. The little things tonight were noteworthy though. Pierce looked like a man on a mission. The bench was arguing goaltending calls in a 30 point game. The crowd brought energy all night long, everyone just seemed to be sick and tired of not being able to put it together. All in all, this was the best 48, at least on offense, I’ve seen this team play all year.
The team was flat out awful on defense in the 3rd quarter, giving up a 35 spot, with the bench becoming careless on that end, as Detroit whittled the lead down to 19. The bench unit bounced back in the 4th and asserted themselves, building the lead back up. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the kind of bounceback effort, front to back, that’s been a rarity for this squad lately. Enough to make me a bit more optimistic about this team again.
Doc spoke a lot in the pregame, about the challenge this team faces this year. Everyone seems to be frustrated. Tonight though, they took out that frustration on the Pistons. KG put their recent performance in perfect perspective afterwards, “It is frustrating, because you know what you are, you know what you are capable of. It doesn’t matter if it’s Cleveland or Detroit, that level of defense. I feel like tonight it was like an edge, you know it was grimy, it was grudy, you know we have to play like that every night.”
That sounds to me like a team leader finally getting the message, getting the sense of reality that this team needs to bring it at that level every night, because well they aren’t good enough to compete otherwise. Can it be sustained? Your guess is as good as mine at this point, but these guys know what they need to do and will have plenty of chances to measure themselves in the upcoming weeks against elite opposition.
Bullets
* Perk still doesn’t have it together on the offensive end, but made a few nice baby steps tonight. He made a couple hooks, made his final 3 shots at the line, after missing the first 3. Not pretty, but a step in the right direction. This team needs him to be closer to his first half offensive form, more of an option instead of a liability on the offensive end in order to go anywhere in May. That much is clear.
* Michael Finley continues to be hooked up to the rejuvenation machine, for every other game anyway. 6 of 7 from field, 3 of 4 from downtown tonight with 15 points in just 13 minutes. We’ll take it Mike but save some for Texas this weekend will ya?
* Continuing the bench accolades, Glen Davis brought the energy tonight, looking extremely active under the basket with 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting and surprisingly no blocked shots for once. The guy has been one of the few guys busting his butt consistently down low, looking to do the dirty work.
* Marquis Daniels responded nicely to Doc calling him out before the game with 11 points, 5 boards, 4 assists and a steal in 29 minutes.
* The good news about blowouts……all starters played 28 minutes or fewer. Pierce, with foul trouble, only played 16.
* Kwame Brown was easily the worst player on the floor tonight.
* When you want to dismiss this blowout win, just think about how much the C’s had to fight to pull out the win in Detroit a couple weeks back. This was progress tonight, no matter how you slice it. Whether it can be sustained is another question.
* Good crowd here at TD tonight, though they should be whistled for a T for doing the wave in the 2nd quarter. Questionable, Garden fans…….let’s keep it at Fenway guys.
* Next up, Bill Walker, Eddie House and the New York Knicks Wednesday night as they finish up a 5 game road trip, with 2 straight W’s. Let’s hope its the 2 point Bill Walker that shows up for that one, instead of the 21 point one.
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