Sunday Notebook: Cautious Optimism, Terrible Jokes From Cleveland, Vintage Truth
Posted by Zach Lowe on Mar 21, 2010
• Cautious optimism. It’s the way I try to live my life. Allow yourself a little bit of hope but not so much that you feel crushed if whatever you’re hoping for doesn’t happen. It’s a friendlier, happier version of pessimism.
And it appears to be the mood among the C’s after two straight impressive road wins in Texas.
Here’s Rajon Rondo from the Herald’s recap of last night’s clutch win in Dallas:
“We’re getting closer, but we’re nowhere near there. We’re OK, but I wouldn’t be too excited yet. We just have to keep playing like this.”
And Doc (via ESPNBoston.com):
“I told our guys, it’s a great win, a terrific win, but we’re still not where we want to be,” said Rivers. “We have to keep marching toward that. Whether we win games or not, our goal hasn’t changed. We want to be ready in April. These games are important to getting there.”
And here’s Doc discussing KG (via the Globe’s C’s blog):
“I keep seeing it every day, he’s getting better,” Rivers said. “His offense is starting to get better too, his balance on the post. But more just his feet. He’s moving his feet more, his hands are active … He’s getting back. He’s running. He’s beating people to the spot. All the things that people said he couldn’t do, he’s starting to do it.
I’m not going to tell you that the C’s are “back” or that they’ve “righted the ship” or whatever. It’s two games. It’s nice to see the team play with intensity and snag two quality road wins, but I’m not ready to pronounce the prior 39 games meaningless and declare the team ready for the post-season. There is too much uncertainty.
Remember: This team had what felt like a defining win last season in Dallas in early February—a rousing come-from-behind game in which the C’s overcame Doc’s rejection and made every big play down the stretch. We know what happened after that.
• But one thing is clear: Paul Pierce is on fire. Pierce has scored 84 points on 30-of-48 shooting over the team’s last three games, and Doc wants the Truth to reassume his role as the team’s go-to scorer. In fact, he even discouraged Pierce from over-passing against Dallas and urged Pierce to look for his own shot (via the Herald’s game story):
“He’s starting to get his confidence back,” Rivers said about Pierce. “I got him on during one timeout. He’s looking to pass too much, which is something I never thought I’d have to say to Paul. But he’s really starting to come back.”
That last line is a nice little reference to the initial tensions between Pierce and Doc during the early part of Doc’s tenure in Boston. It has been well-documented that Doc asked Pierce to defer more to his teammates and that Pierce, surrounded by players who were not on his level, bristled at the new coach’s insistence that he refine his shot selection. The team—and Pierce—have come a long way.
• Do you enjoy columns that were clearly written several days ago, before the C’s two wins in Texas? What about awful “the Celtics are so old…” jokes so predictable they wouldn’t even make Leno’s monologue? Then this Bud Shaw column in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer is for you!
Shaw says the Celtics are dead:
The way the Celtics are going, to actually appear ready to pounce come playoff time will require an imaginative taxidermist.
Zing!
The Celtics are dragging Kevin Garnett up and down the court like the whole bunch of them are auditioning for Weekend at Bernie’s IV.
Hold on…was there a Weekend at Bernie’s III? Some Googling and IMDB-ing produce inconclusive results—a few parodies (including this one at Funny Or Die) and some references to Bernie’s III that appear to be jokes. Can someone clear this up? Is there a third Bernie’s movie? If there is, I might cave and watch it. If not, why did Shaw skip all the way to Bernie’s IV?
When the Celtics get in a running game with a more athletic team, they often need IVs administered at halftime.
Four out of five doctors recommend formaldehyde.
Is there a Jay Leno monologue joke generator? Do you just type “old age” into it and watch it spit out things like IVs and Weekend at Bernie’s and formaldehyde?
Oh, and that whole thing about the C’s struggling against fast-paced teams? It’s actually not true, but research is really hard and the Leno joke generator is so much easier.
The Celtics aren’t just pacing themselves. Losing to Memphis by 20 at home isn’t putting the season on cruise control. It’s getting it stuck in reverse during a Demolition Derby.
The fact that this column mentions the Memphis loss and not the last few C’s games seems relevant in evaluating the column.
Garnett is a proud competitor. But he simply has too many miles on him. Some nights he looks like Keith Richards does most mornings.
And…there’s your Keith Richards joke.
Look: The Celtics have clearly been a level below the Cavs this season, and it’s perfectly reasonable to argue that the Celtics are finished as championship contenders. But if you’re going to be making that argument in a major newspaper—and if you’re going to be paid a decent salary to make that argument in a major newspaper—shouldn’t you produce something more than bad jokes and empty analysis?
• Here’s Michael Finley in the Herald talking about learning the C’s playbook:
“The terminology is different. The plays are different, especially offensively. Teams have different systems for the offense, and this is completely different for me. But the defensive schemes are pretty much the same.”
That last line about defense is interesting, since Finley played the last few seasons in San Antonio, annually one of the league’s best defensive teams. I was talking to an NBA insider the other day about coaching and defense, and we were talking about how some players who are supposedly bad at defense appear to become much better at defense upon being traded to a good defensive team (i.e. Mo Williams, Hedo Turkoglu, Ray Allen).
The reason: coaching. The best defensive teams have rigorous systems and hold players accountable for following those systems. Players know how they should defend just about every imaginable screen/roll depending on which opposing players are involved, where the play happens on the court and how much time remains on the shot clock. There is less room for improvisation than you might think—at least on the best defensive teams.
So it’s interesting that Finley, after spending time with the Spurs, sees little difference between their defensive system and Boston’s. It’s a compliment to Rivers and Tom Thibodeau.
• Also in the Herald: Steve Bulpett had an interesting talk with Knicks (and former Pacers) chief Donnie Walsh, and the talk focused on Larry Legend. The whole thing is worth a read. The most interesting detail: Larry came very close to taking a top position with the Wizards in 2003 before deciding he only wanted to work for the Pacers.
• Also in the Herald: Brian McKeon, the C’s team doctor, just got back from an earthquake-related relief mission in Haiti. The earthquake that devastated Haiti occurred almost 2 1/2 months ago now, and it’s already beginning to recede from the front burner of the public’s consciousness in the U.S. This piece states very clearly that the situation is still dire and that we still need to be paying close attention. Go read it if you’ve got time.
• Via the Globe’s notebook: Doc remains patient with Rasheed Wallace:
“He’s been up and down,’’ Rivers said earlier in the week. “There’s no doubt about that. But, as a veteran, you just don’t know how they’re going through a regular season. That’s something as a coach you learn by trial and error during the season.’
Is this code for: “You don’t know if older players will show up out of shape and spend the entire regular season getting into shape”?
• Doc did some fun experimenting with the second unit against the Knicks last week: He had them run some of the plays Boston uses against zone defenses, even though the Knicks weren’t playing a full-on zone. Here’s Doc (also via the Globe’s notebook linked above):
“They scored,’’ Rivers said, “But it was out of happenstance. They didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Three guys knew it, two guys didn’t. So we wanted to make sure they at least knew the shell of it.’’
That’s it for today. Brian will have analysis on the Dallas game later. I’m off to enjoy the weather.
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