Sunday Notebook: Q-Rich Goes Off, KG’s Fate and The Rise of TA
Posted by Zach Lowe on Apr 18, 2010
• The headlines will focus on the Quentin Richardson-KG-Paul Pierce fiasco, so we may as well start with Q-Rich’s post-game comments (via ESPNBoston.com):
“I was trying to get over there to take the ball out of bounds and [Garnett] started to talk to me, so I talked back,” Richardson said. “I don’t have any business talking to him, he was on the ground crying. I don’t know what was going on, two actresses over there, that’s what they are.”
And:
“I said to Jermaine [O'Neal], he’s OK because I knew nobody touched him. Is he taking another break like he does so many times? Sometimes he falls like he’s about to be out for the season and then he gets right up, that’s all I said.”
First: Udonis Haslem touched him. And if Q-Rich doesn’t realize that, he’s either blind or hasn’t seen the replay. Second: I think he’s confusing Pierce with Vince Carter. Third: I’m quite sure Richardson is unaware of Pierce’s recent shoulder problems, including three stingers.
I’ll discuss whether KG deserves a suspension in a separate post, since that is a more complicated question than you might think. My knee-jerk reaction is that he will be suspended for Game 2.
For now, let me just reveal my personal biases:
Quentin Richardson, from almost the day he entered the league and began choreographing dumb celebration rituals with Darius Miles, has acted as if he were a star player when he in fact is a role player who has at times bordered on punch line status. (By “at times,” I mean this past off-season, when he was traded four times). Q-Rich calling Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett “actresses” is ridiculous, of course. KG is only one of the most durable and hard-working players in NBA history.
As for Pierce, we have evidence now that he has an initial reaction to pain that is perhaps more panicked than most players. Witness Game 1 of the 2008 Finals, which Laker trolls have brought up approximately 4.2 million times since Pierce left that game in a wheelchair, fearing a season-ending knee injury, only to return a few minutes later and destroy the Lakers with his outside shooting.
The key is that he returned. And last night he got up and stayed in the game. Pierce may panic at the onset of pain—and wouldn’t you—but that’s a different thing than “acting.” And as a fan, I don’t care about his initial reaction. I care that he gets back up and does damage to the other team.
All of this said, Richardson is not wrong to hustle to take the ball out if he thinks his team has a momentary advantage. Garnett did the same thing earlier in the game when a Miami player had fallen out of bounds as Boston was ready to take the ball out from under their own basket. KG stepped over the player and begged the ref to give him the ball.
Richardson walking over to the sideline is OK on its own. Who is at fault for what happened next? Probably both Richardson and KG, two aggressive trash-talkers who, at times, can’t control their tempers. The nose-to-nose talk was unnecessary, and KG cannot be throwing violent elbows outside the flow of play in the post-season when he knows the risk. And that was a violent elbow, and it was intended to connect with Richardson’s upper body.
The notion that this altercation might spark Boston is nice. But at what price?
• Here’s KG’s explanation (via the same ESPNBoston.com story):
“I just saw [Quentin Richardson] standing over him talking nonsense. I asked [Richardson] to give him some room and, before you knew it, mayhem starts.”
Again, that’s fine. You still can’t be throwing elbows in the playoffs, just like Zidane shouldn’t have head-butted the Italian dude who talked trash about his sister.
• In any case, KG has already accepted the possible suspension (via Julian Benbow at the Globe):
“You make your bed, you have to lay in it,’’ Garnett said. “If I see any of my teammates down, I want to make sure that they are all right. [Pierce] has had history with this shoulder and I just wanted to make sure that he was all right.’’
• If you doubt the existence of that elusive switch veteran teams always claim they can flip, I present the last 6:00 or so of the 3rd quarter as my first piece of evidence such a switch exists. The C’s defense reached 2008 levels of greatness for the last 20 minutes of Game 1, but it would not have been enough had the Celtics continued sputtering on the other end.
The captain brought the offense to life. Here’s Pierce on his 3rd quarter (via Peter May at ESPNBoston.com):
“I just wanted to be a little more aggressive. That’s what I tried to do. We were kind of lifeless when we got down by 10 [actually 14] and I just wanted to be more aggressive on the offensive end, get into the paint, getting to the line, taking the shots down there. That was about it. Once I started doing that, the defense kicked in.”
• Like Brian Robb and the boys over at CelticsBlog, Chris Sheridan at ESPN.com spends his column space talking about Tony Allen’s performance off the bench:
In hindsight, it probably didn’t hurt that Allen had spent the better part of the previous two days cramming, watching film and studying Wade’s tendencies instead of practicing with his teammates after Allen came down with a case of boo-ray flu.
“I watched a lot of film, listened to [assistant] coach Tim Thibodeau and basically tried to learn their sets. They run a lot of sets that put him in the pick-and-roll, and if you don’t have your antennae up while he’s got that ball, he can do a lot of stuff with that ball.”
You can’t say enough about TA’s Game 1 performance, and the C’s general screen/roll defense on Wade, which I’ll detail later. The TA we saw on Saturday was the player TA could become if he eliminates the turnovers, the 1-on-3 charges to the hoop, the habit of jumping on every pump fake and all the other classic TA brain farts.
None of us thought that was actually possible. Maybe it is?
• TA is happy (per the Globe’s Benbow again):
“Like they always say, patience is a virtue,’’ Allen said. “I took into that and I patiently waited and I’m here now trying to compete for a title.’’
Good for TA. Now he has to prove he can play like that consistently. Game 2 is on Tuesday. Fire up the film machine, TA.
• In a separate Globe piece, TA talks about his decision to work out at the team’s facility in Waltham during the All-Star break instead of taking a trip:
“I didn’t have anything to do [during the All-Star break], nowhere to go, and I didn’t want to spend any money because they said there was a lockout coming up. I’ve been waiting a long time. I just believe in God, everything happens for a reason.’’
My favorite thing about that quote? That TA is hoarding his cash in anticipation of a lockout. Tony Allen is more cautious with his money than he is on a 1-on-3 fast break, apparently. And if he’s panicking about cash, you wonder how many players on the lower end of the salary scale have spent this year dialing back their life-styles to prep for the lockout.
• Fittingly, TA yesterday won the Sixth Star Award, an award—voted on by fans—given to the C’s bench player who best represents the team’s tradition of outstanding sixth men. If you could have gotten odds on TA winning this award even two months ago, you’d be loaded now. Gino received more votes than Rasheed Wallace.
• Speaking of bench guys: In a story that is somehow in the Boston Herald and not The Onion, the Herald has the following headline: “Brian Scalabrine Ready if Doc Rivers Calls.”
I know everyone loves Scal, but devoting a full story to an overpaid bench guy who likely won’t see any important court time seems like overkill. Scal is dealing with bone spurs in his right shoulder, and he’ll need off-season surgery. I’ll be candid: It’ll be surprising if Scal is ever in the NBA again.
• Doc is pleased with Rajon’s 10-10-7 line and credits the training staff for their quick thinking at Friday’s practice (via the Herald):
“Ed Lacerte (the team’s trainer) and Dr. (Brian) McKeon deserve an assist on this one,” Rivers said. “It was Eddie’s idea to send him to the (clinic) and get him ready. In the second half, I was scared to take him out, because I didn’t know what we would get back out of him.”
• As you likely heard during the broadcast, Doc is convinced that TA transferred the flu to Davis and Rondo in their regular card game (via the same Herald story linked above):
“There are no other card games,” said Rivers. “It’s the card group that is sick, which tells us they have to keep the gloves on from now on. I don’t know what they play, but whatever it is, it hasn’t been healthy for them.”
• Let’s finish with a trip to the enemy blogs. At Hot Hot Hoops, Surya Fernandez says the Heat will “kick themselves” for letting Game 1 slip away and calls for KG to be suspended:
Putting aside what Quentin Richardson might have said to Kevin Garnett and the fact that it all took place at the Heat’s bench and not Boston’s, don’t you have to suspend KG strictly because of the elbow? If the NBA is going to suspend players for just leaving the bench (any do any Heat players count?) then something that dangerous to another player can’t be just simply dismissed.
• And at the Peninsula is Mightier, guys are calling for Michael Beasley to do more on offense:
“Beasley MUST be more aggressive with the ball in his hands. KG is not the one-on-one defender he used to be. Beasley can take the old dude off the dribble.”
I was stunned at how deferential Beasley was in Game 1. He took 8 shots, and only three came in the paint, according to ESPN.com’s shot charts.
That’s it for now. More later. Game 2 will be fascinating. Memo to Doc: Please start Glen Davis in KG’s spot. That is all.
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