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 [...]
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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