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 [...]
Probable Detroit starters: Rodney Norvell Stuckey (PG), Ben Gordon (SG), Tayshaun Durell Prince (SF), Greg Monroe (PF), Chris Wilcox (C)
Halfway to the playoffs, guys! Fitting that the median point of this long march would be a boring game against a bad team. Still, it’s a game that we can’t be too confident about, because “complacency is failure’s cousin” or something. Besides, the Pistons just beat the Celtics three weeks ago in what basically everyone agrees was the worst game ever. Suffice it to say Detroit has not been friendly to Kevin Garnett this season, what with the calf injury and the other thing.
I get a little queasy every time I even think of the Pistons roster because it reminds me of this article, which put me in the hospital for two weeks because it made my brain try to destroy itself. Imagine the 2010-2011 Celtics with Rodney Stuckey at the point and Rip Hamilton as the starting shooting guard. Force yourself to imagine it! I don’t care that the article was pretty much completely denied a day later. My dreams are still haunted by this face:
AAAAHHHHHHHHHH
On to the preview!
WHAT THE PISTONS DO WELL
Defend the three. Opponents take only 17.1 threes per game (11th lowest in the league) for an eFG% of 53.6 (12th lowest). Also, they don’t take many, but they shoot the three with the league’s 8th-highest success rate. No, it’s not easy to type when you’re grasping a handful of straws.
WHAT THE PISTONS DO POORLY
Defend everywhere else. Opponents have the 4th highest attempts and percentage at the rim and the 4th highest FG% overall. Consider those numbers and the defensive efficiency metric above, then consider that they only recently lost their best defensive player in Ben Wallace.
Select shots. The 10-15 footer zone has been the lowest-percentage in basketball this season, and the Pistons have made cozy little homes in it. The Pistons take 8.9 shots per game from that distance (2nd most in NBA), which is 11% of their total shots. They should love playing the Celtics, who force opponents to take 11.9% of their shots from 10-15, more than any other defense. Except for the Pistons it wouldn’t be “forcing” so much as “allowing.” I’m seeing a mutually beneficial relationship here. Handshakes and hugs all around.
PLAYERS WHO MAKE ME WORRY
Greg Monroe. Not tonight, necessarily, but we’re going to have to start worrying about him pretty soon. He’s blossoming on defense and his rebounding numbers have been climbing ever since he was promoted to starter. The guy can shoot a little, too, and he was a pretty narsty ballhandler back when he was the #1 high school recruit like two years ago.
Again, you can probably save your Greg Monroe worries for future games. But those games will come.
Charlie Villanueva, only because his presence is going to lead to commentators discussing a thing I’d rather not hear about anymore.
PLAYERS WHO DO NOT MAKE ME WORRY
Their center. Ben Wallace is out and now they don’t have one. Chris Wilcox has bravely stepped into the role, and while he has the team’s highest PER and rebound rate, he’s a light 6-10 and historically nothing to be concerned about. He’s primarily useful for reminding everyone of that awesome Maryland team that beat Duke in 2002. Then we wonder what happened to Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon and then we forget about it for another two years.
Benjamin “Ben” Gordon and Richard “Rip” Hamilton. Gordon is a famous Celtics-killer, but so was Andrew Toney, and they’re having about the same impact on the NBA this season. Hamilton, meanwhile, has been benched because his name has come up in trade discussions. You know, standard NBA coaching procedure. Any time one of your guys is named in a potential trade, you have to keep that guy from playing basketball at all costs. I mean, he could be traded! By the way, Richard Hamilton would be in this section even if he were playing.
WHAT WE WANT TO SEE TONIGHT
Everything proceed according to the laws of statistical probability.
The Ticker
