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The Ticker
7 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
7 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
8 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

93
9 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
12 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
12 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

9
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How to Beat Orlando, In Numbers

The following are the Magic’s average shot attempts per game from various distances in the regular season and in this series against Boston. 

                                                       Regular Season                                  Boston Series

Overall FGAs                                         77.9                                                       74.0

Overall FTAs                                         26.0                                                        32.0 

At rim                                                   24.1                                                          24.0

< 10 feet **                                         8.3                                                            13.0

10-15 ft                                                5.6                                                              7.5

16-23 ft                                               12.6                                                             9.5

3-pointers                                           27.3                                                             20.0

**Does not include shots at rim

You see what’s going on here in the numbers?

The C’s are allowing Orlando fewer of the shots they like best—threes—and forcing them to take more mid-range twos, the toughest shots in the NBA, particularly against a defensive beast like Boston. 

Oh: And they’re also sending the Magic to the line a ton. The Magic were the 2nd-worst free throw shooting team in the league this season, thanks largely to Dwight Howard’s continued awfulness at the line. None of this is by accident.

If someone doesn’t hire Tom Thibodeau as their head coach this off-season, I’m going to start wondering if there’s just something about his personality or his style that turns teams off. Because the numbers say this guy knows how to coach defense and game plan as well as anyone in the league.

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