On the back of a horrific game six performance, Gary Washburn of the Globe piled on with more bad news: Avery Bradley is almost certainly done for the season. Washburn: A source close to Bradley told the Globe that it’s in the “high 90s” percentile that Bradley will be shut down and will perhaps need [...]
After the Thunder finished up their series by routinely dismantling the Lakers last night to send them packing in five games, a time has been announced for the C’s-Sixers Game 6 on Wednesday night. It will tipoff shortly after 8pm on ESPN. Looking ahead in the postseason, if the C’s do win Game 6, and [...]
I love this decision-making from Rajon Rondo. While leading the break, you can see him eyeballing Ray Allen, who runs the wing and spots up on the arc. The Sixers have a 1-2 disadvantage but are mostly concerned about Allen’s three balls, which allows Mickael Pietrus to make an unmolested baseline cut behind the defense. [...]
A note to all you local C’s fans out there that may be attending the game tonight at TD Garden. The game will start just after 7pm and will be broadcast nationally on TNT. However, unlike most TNT regular season games during the season, the tip will not come 15-20 minutes after the scheduled start [...]
Rajon Rondo is a tremendous player, but he tends to have a little bit of an issue scoring the ball late in games. I won’t go as far as saying he is scared, but he does pass up shots and defer to teammates in crunch-time….well a lot. Last night though may have been his coming [...]
Garnett followed up his season-best effort against Atlanta in Game 6 with a new season-high in points and another sensational double-double, as well 60 percent shooting (12-of-20) from the field. Over his past two contests, Garnett is averaging 28.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, two steals and four blocks a game. After the game, KG was candid [...]
You had to know that was going to happen. This script has been played out so many times before. A star has a completely terrible game. He’s missing shots. He’s fumbling the ball out of bounds. He just can’t seem to get it together. Then in the final seconds with the game on the line the respected coach calls his number. It’s the ultimate sign of respect.
In this case, Doc Rivers called Ray Allen’s number twice in the final seconds of the ball game. Rivers tried to exploit the two-for-one situation in which the Celtics found themselves with a quick fire from Allen. Like four times earlier tonight, Allen bricked the three point attempt. Luckily the ball bounced to Kevin Garnett and Allen was given a second chance. Rivers called his number again. Up one, you could feel building begging for Paul Pierce to take Wes Matthews off the dribble and pull up from his sweet spot– or even better, drive to the hole and force the Blazers to put him on the line. The only problem was that the Blazers were playing zone. With Garnett coming from the opposite wing to set a pick for Pierce, the Blazers’ attention shifted for a brief moment to that side of the floor. This was just enough time for Pierce to make a great decision and fire the ball to Allen. Ray, without hesitation rose and fired. Swish.
Enjoy:
There you have it. It was not the prettiest or most exciting game but a W is a W. Now the Celtics can rest up tomorrow to get ready for a big game against Chicago on Friday. The Celtics did what they needed to do this week by beating Cleveland and Portland on back to back nights–their first sweep of a back to back this season. I liken these past two games to the Patriots win over the Lions on Thanksgiving. The speculation was that if the Pats came out and took care of business then they could have a few extra days off. Now the Celtics have done the same. Celtics, you have my permission to take tomorrow off from basketball, just be sure to check with Doc first. But, I digress. Before we get to Friday night’s showdown with ChiTown, we need to put tonight’s game to bed.
So much of this game is about matchups and tonight had some crazy ones. Despite having a 16 point lead late in the fourth quarter, the Celtics allowed the Trail Blazers to creep back in due in large part to matchups. The most notable matchup had to be the Rajon Rondo vs. Andre MIller duel. Miller continuously abused Rondo with his size by driving into the lane and taking his patented off-glass runner/jumpshot. It’s an ugly move, but it’s incredibly effective. Especially given the size discrepancy between Rondo and Miller.Eventually, the Celtics attempted to rectify this problem by switching Ray Allen on to Miller. The results were mixed and inconclusive.
The Blazers decided to go small about midway through the fourth quarter and after weathering a little onslaught from the Cs, this small Blazer lineup cut a 16 point Boston lead to one with 0.42 left on the clock. In this small Blazer lineup, LaMarcus Aldridge played the 5, Brandon Roy played the 4, Wesley Matthews played the 3, Rudy Fernandez played the 2, and Andre Miller played the 1. Quite the interesting lineup, and one the Celtics should have feasted on. Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett split time guarding Aldridge while the rest of the Blazers seemed to be guarded by interchangeable Celtics. One possession Rondo might find himself guarding Roy while Davis might matchup with him on another. It was weird to watch but probably even weirder to play. On the offensive end, the Celtics should have given the ball to whomever was being guarded by Brandon Roy. Roy is a great player, but he’s coming off injury and he does not have the size and strength to guard Garnett or Davis on the block. Despite this reality, he still did a pretty good job and the Blazers team defense was able to force some turnovers.
The Celtics shot 57% from the floor tonight and still only won by four. Usually if a team sustains that kind of shooting prowess throughout an entire game they’re either blowing a team out or not taking many shots. The Celtics only had 63 field goal attempts, by far their fewest of the season (Basketball-Reference.com). The Celtics also turned the ball over 17 times, their third most this season (Basketball-Reference.com).So what have we learned? That you can shoot out of you mind and still be in a tight game if you only attempt 63 field goals and turn the ball over 17 times. Oh no! I just fell out of the obvious tree and disturbed a nest of obvious birds on the way down. Now they are obviously crapping on my head.
Glen Davis had another great game, his second in two nights. Davis finished the game with 16 points and 7 rebounds but probably his most impressive stat was going 7-9 from the field and was (unofficial count) 4-for-4 on long twos. This can only mean one thing: Glen Davis reads CelticsHub and was so inspired by my post this morning that he knew he had to knock these long twos down.
The following statement will be repeated ad nauseum this season but tonight was the first time it was actually true since the injury: The Celtics could have really used Delonte West tonight. With Andre Miller doing whatever he wanted to Rajon Rondo tonight, West’s size and defensive ability was sorely missed. Again, look for this to be a running theme…
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That’s it for now. More tomorrow. Tonight, I leave you with this hilarious picture or Nicolas Batum hugging Patty Mills:
Post your own caption in the comments section and if it’s funny, you win a +. Hooray!
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