Despite all the rehab, Rajon Rondo is finding ways to keep busy this offseason. Just a couple weeks after appearing on E!’s Fashion Police show, the point guard was back on TV last night, in a fun segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live called Mean Tweets. In it, celebrities, or in this case NBA players, read [...]
The whispers around Paul Pierce’s future with the Celtics continue to surface in the fourth week of Boston’s offseason. Unconfirmed report after unconfirmed report has circled in, stating anything from Pierce’s house being on the market, to the team being “likely” to buy him out. Locally, plenty of Celtics fans seem resigned to the fact [...]
It was a tough start to the offseason last week for Terrence Williams. After standing out as one of the bright spots on the Celtics roster late last season, he was taken into custody last week with the disturbing allegation that he pulled a gun during a domestic dispute with his son’s mother and her [...]
What has Rajon Rondo been up to this offseason beyond rehabbing his ACL injury? Rubbing elbows with Joan Rivers, that’s what. Just one summer after spending some time showing off his fashion sense in an internship with GQ, Rondo went one-on-one with Rivers on E’s Fashion Police, since well he has some time on his [...]
Acquiring any player, whether it’s via trade, free agency, or the draft, comes with an air of uncertainty. The NBA has no guaranteed covenant and all sales are final, no matter how talented, proven, or productive the player may have been in year’s past. But these memories—especially recent ones—often clouds the judgment of a [...]
The waiting is the hardest part. At least that’s what the Celtics’ brass must feel like about their coveted head coach. A week after Danny Ainge confirmed to The Boston Globe that Doc Rivers would be returning to the Celtics’ bench next season, we’re still waiting for a direct word from the head coach himself. [...]
The Celtics end their two game slide with a very convincing road-win over the Toronto Raptors. A fourteen point win against the Raps is to be expected of a team that fancies itself a Championship contender. Still, this evening’s game had its share of teachable moments.
First off, this Celtics team is extremely deep. The Celtics platooned the O’Neal brothers in the middle, getting 18 big minutes out of both of them. Things in Celtic center land are expected to get a lot better when Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett return from injury. That said, they could do worse than having Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal eat up minutes.
Secondly, this Celtics team is going to get outrebounded. Even though most of the rebounds in this game appeared to bounce right to Raptor players, it’s not like the Celtics getting outrebounded is fluky. The Celtics had their own glass cleaned for them to the tune of 19-2. Again, while most of these boards were the long-rebound/bounce-right-to-the-opponent type instead of the battling in the trenches type, the disparity should not be overlooked.
Thirdly, Rajon Rondo is amazing. Make no mistake, Rondo was extremely rusty. He threw the ball out of bounds (5 turnovers). He had no chemistry with the starters or the bench. He, at times, appeared hobbled by his ailing ankle. Even with all of that, Rondo still had 8 assists and played 34 minutes. Rondo’s first assist was probably his best play:
Half way through the second quarter, Rondo broke a pair of ankles on his way to giving Paul Pierce a wide open three point make. If you watch the above clip again you’ll see Jose Calderon get embarrassed on Rondo’s initial crossover and then Julian Wright get caught by a head fake into a fake crossover. I don’t think I have ever seen a fake crossover come that far to the other side of a player’s body. Even coming off an ankle injury, Rondo is able to use his speed to blow past his opponents before they can even establish their defensive stances. He is certainly not all the way back but tonight was a good sign.
Well, almost a good sign. There was still this beaut’ from the second half:
Kleiza Goes "Albert Haynesworth" on Rondo's Ankle
Yes, you are seeing that correctly. That is Linas Kleiza doing a two-step on Rondo’s already-injured ankle and that is Rondo writhing in pain. Luckily, this little mishap looked to scare Rondo more than actually hurt him as he didn’t even leave the game. For those of you who watched the game, I think I heard your collective sigh of relief from my house.
Rondo wasn’t the only person who got stepped on in this game. In the second half, Glen Davis caught a little friendly fire by way of Jermaine O’Neal’s high top:
"Baby, how does my size 14s taste?"
I am just happy that this little kiss failed to dissuade Glen Davis from taking charges in the future. Davis seems to have a short memory considering he successfully took a charge on DeMarr DeRozan on the very next play. We can argue whether or not either of these were actually, by definition, charges (I say there weren’t….Oh come on, Davis’ feet were sliding both times….listen, just because he took a hard hit doesn’t always mean it’s a legit charge….alright, alright, calm down. They were both charges….(no they weren’t)) but what we can’t argue is the positive outcomes Davis’ charges have caused this season.
Glen Davis’ energized play did well to mask his abysmal outside shooting. Davis is edging his way further and further out on his jumpers and the results have been mixed. Here’s Davis’ shot chart:
I’m not quite sure why Davis has not been able to extend his range beyond 15 ft. Perhaps it’s a lack of practice because it’s certainly not a lack of confidence. Whatever it is, the flies in his eyes doesn’t help.
Enough with Glen Davis and his shot selection. The Celtics won and to the fans of winners go the spoils. And by spoils I mean this dramatic throw down by Pierce. What some viewers may not have noticed due to the jump-out-of-your-seat living room posturing this dunk surely engendered, is that the Celtics went right back to a similar play on their very next possession. Tonight, good things happened when Paul Pierce turned the corner. This time, Pierce wasn’t able to throw down another crowd-pleaser due to DeRozan going under the Rondo screen and recovering extremely well/fast. Instead, Pierce was able to kick it out to a wide open Ray Allen who drills a three. Great stuff:
Here’s the “Celtics” play of the game:
By “Celtics” I mean this play best exemplifies “Celtics Basketball”. Just look at the ball movement. The double-teams commanded. The unselfishness. It’s just beautiful.
Bad: DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points on the Celtics tonight.
Good: It took him 25 attempts to do so.
Not to fret Celtics fans, Pierce did tweak his ankle on his last dunk of the game (man, when was the last time you’ve seen that written) but it does not appear to be serious- according to Paul Pierce’s smirk right after he did it, RotoWorld, and Doc Rivers’ postgame Q & A. Also by way of Rivers: Marquis Daniels played with little intensity tonight due to a stomach bug. I don’t think it’s a huge deal if one game goes by and we don’t mention Daniels in a positive way.
That’s it for now. Tomorrow the Celtics take on the lowly Timberwolves who have been playing pretty good basketball this season- despite what their record may suggest.
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