The Herald got it right from Rondo’s agent. According to his agent, Bill Duffy, the Celtics point guard has been named to the Eastern Conference All-star roster, presumably to replace Joe Johnson, the injured Atlanta Hawks guard. This would be Rondo’s third all-star appearance. Nice birthday present for RR, who probably should have been selected [...]
We apologize if your comments are being deleted (provided that they are not offensive). We are looking into why this is happening. We also want to apologize for the lack of a game thread for last night’s game. We had a premonition that the Celtics would play that poorly and thought if we pretended the [...]
I talked with Detroit star forward Greg Monroe prior to the Celtics-Pistons game on Wednesday night. Here is what the 2nd year big man out of Georgetown, who is averaging 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game had to say. 1. Just your 2nd year in the league, but playing so well, were you disappointed [...]
Readers! Last week’s responses to the 5-on-5 questions were really, really great. We had way more qualified answers than we were able to use. So we’re going to keep doing it! FOREVER. Here are this week’s questions: 1. Are you concerned about Rondo’s media boycott this week? 2. The trade deadline is less than a [...]
I talked with Chicago starting guard Ronnie Brewer prior to the Celtics-Bulls game on Sunday. Here is what the 6th year man out of Arkansas who is averaging 7.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists had to say. 1. You guys have a lot of the same players back from last year’s team which was [...]
I talked to Los Angeles back up big man Josh McRoberts prior to the Celtics-Lakers game Thursday night at the Garden. Here is what the former Duke Blue Devil, who is averaging 2.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in his first year in LA, had to say. 1. How have you guys been able to deal [...]
In case there was any question about which team is still the class of the Eastern Conference, your Boston Celtics closed the book on that subject tonight, leading from front to back, largely in the double-digits before finishing up with a five-point win over the Miami Heat who are suddenly dangerously treading near the .500 mark.
Don’t be fooled by the score though if you missed this one, the C’s controlled this game throughout with some spotty officiating in the closing minutes making the margin of victory closer than it had any business being.
Before we delve into the individual performances, let me just say, it’s going to be a shame that 90 percent of the coverage will be about what’s wrong with the Miami Heat as opposed to what’s right with your Boston Celtics. Make no mistake, the Heat have their problems, but this contest was more about what the C’s did well than anything else.
Unsurprisingly you could tell very on just how badly the C’s wanted this one. This team, it lives for the spotlight, the challenge of playing on the road in hostile environments. They also came in with the all important two days of rest, coming off a sour loss in Dallas. Sure Miami needed a win, but Boston wanted the glory even more. They were clearly the more motivated team tonight, and for a squad that dogged it through the second half of the regular season last year, focus like we saw tonight indicates to me this team will be ready to play every night this year and won’t stop until they have home court advantage in hand.
Enough about this team stuff though, let’s start giving out some gold stars, since inevitably everyone on the team deserved one tonight. The C’s came firing out of the gate with a purpose, everyone in the starting lineup was on the board halfway through the first quarter and the trend continued with The Big Three having perhaps their best combined effort in as long as I can remember.
61 percent shooting, 60 percent from deep, to account for 76 of the team’s 112 points for Pierce, Ray and KG. People keep arguing about when this group’s window will close, but numbers like that show the “window” is wide open and very well could be for another couple years.
I’d be remiss though if I didn’t put the microscope on Ray Allen’s tremendous evening, hitting his first seven 3-pointers on his way to a classic box score line of 35 points, 1 rebound and no assists. This team pays him to do one thing really well, shoot the damn ball and he did it like a pro in 41 minutes of action, the recipent of pinpoint passing and ball movement the entire evening. The team really only struggled offensively at the end of the first quarter/start of the second when they went away from Ray for a bit.
When he was involved however, there was no stopping the C’s. His countless upfakes and patience worked to perfection as Allen and his teammates abused the Heat defense all night that were overly aggressive in passing lanes and closeouts, which they paid the price for dearly.Easily one of Ray’s best night shooting in a Boston uniform.
I also have to give up to Boston tonight for their court awareness. The Heat were doing incredibly amounts of switching in transition, switching on pick and rolls, and the C’s, specifically Rajon Rondo was incredibly aware of each and everyone one of these, taking advantage of all the mismatches for some easy buckets, especially for Paul Pierce (10/16, 25 points) all night long.
Speaking of Rondo, he had what may very well could have been his best all-around game of the year last night. He started out with no fear, taking the opening tip and drilling a 15 footer after Carlos Arroyo was guarding him from the other side of the arena. Rondo continued the aggressiveness in the first quarter, attacking bucket with ease which culminated with this:
I loved how pissed off Rondo looks at the end of this for getting no calls on the subtle push he got from Chris Bosh on the way down. This type of play set the tone for the C’s and Rondo, who had all kinds of incredible finishes last night, from Glen Davis getting rewarded for running the floor by cleaning up a deflected alleyop with a tip-in at full speed, to KG’s and-1 from an impossible angle under the basket after another Rondo assist (16).
After setting the tone for the first quarter, Rondo really just picked this Heat team apart, a team that wanted no part of doing the nearly impossible task of slowing him down in transition. Danny Ainge talked about consistency at the end of last year with Rondo’s game and the point guard has just come out flying, despite his foot problems looking to run on essentially every made and missed basket, setting up his teammates with ease and rewarding them endlessly on the break while picking his spots perfectly for steals, offensive boards you name it. It’s a joy to see him at his apex thus far.
The C’s big men also did an admirable job on the glass last night while we’re at it, with Rondo/Allen Pierce combining for just 3 boards, KG, Shaq, Semih, and Big Baby handled the glass, with KG tallying up 13 boards and Baby having another fantastic effort off the bench with 9 boards. The extra hustle and deflections off misses were there all night too, giving the team second chances as well as openings in transition they punished Miami for.
Let’s go to bullets real quick to wrap this bad boy up:
* Nate Robinson you drive me crazy thus far this year, but you made some big shots including a couple at the start of the opening frame to keep the margin at a acceptable distance. The C’s really did a tremendous job of that all night, putting to bed any semblance of a Miami run with a couple quick hoops whenever things looked like they were going to get interesting. The Heat of course made a run when it got too late, but that was more a byproduct of officiating than anything else. The C’s put the clamps on when they had to in this contest.
* Marquis’ box score won’t show it but he played tremendous D throughout this one on Wade and LeBron.
* It wasn’t all roses in the second half as Miami put up 61 points, more because LeBron got loose (35-10-9) and was on a revolving door to the free throw line (22 attempts, C’s had 25 all game) to help keep the game close. He played well but only got any real help from his bench (Eddie House, Udonis Haslem mid-range jumpers, Big Z). As we know from the past three years in the postseason, when LeBron doesn’t get help he loses, doesn’t matter where he is. I also loved how much the C’s fouled him hard last night repeatedly, the guy had to earn his points and pull himself off the ground to do it.
* Did Dwayne Wade’s dog die or something? He looked like he did not want to be there, completely disinterested on both ends of the floor, relegating himself to the corner on the offensive end. He’s play well in-between the C’s showdowns this year, but Boston clearly has his number.
That’s it for now, much more to come throughout the day as we continue to break down this terrific W.
The Ticker