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14 hours ago

Rondo Replacing Johnson on All-Star Team

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 [...]

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3 days ago

Comments Deleting?

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 [...]

2
7 days ago

5 Questions With Greg Monroe

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 [...]

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8 days ago

Call for Responses: 5-on-5

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 [...]

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11 days ago

5 Questions With Ronnie Brewer

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 [...]

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13 days ago

5 Questions With Josh McRoberts

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 [...]

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Pseudo-Statement Win: Celtics 109, Lakers 96

And Lakers' fans complain about Paul Pierce flopping because....?

ESPN Box Score •  Forum Blue and GoldSilver Screen and Roll

I have never been happier to be wrong than I am right now.  I predicted that the Lakers would roll over the Celtics today and the exact opposite ended up happening (the CelticsHub jinx does not exist…).  I completely overestimated how injured Glen Davis was.  I completely underestimated how the Celtics would play after that embarrassment in Arizona on Friday.  I completely overestimated the Lakers’ (current) killer instinct.

The first half of this game was a wash.  The Celtics went up early in the first but the Lakers matched them and surpassed them in the second due in part to foul trouble and Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom playing a weird one-on-one two man game.  The third quarter spelled out the Celtic domination using both a locked-in Paul Pierce and some Derek Fisher flops that failed to elicit the type of momentum swing they were intended to do.  The fourth quarter was all about execution.  Usually when the Celtics go into slow-it-down/execute mode their offense devolves into Paul Pierce isolations.  Today was different.  Everyone did their job until the game was completely in hand.

Some Reasons Why the Celtics Won:

  • Paul Pierce scored 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting all while almost exclusively guarding Kobe Bryant in the second half.
  • The Celtics forced the Lakers to play one-on-one isolations resulting in the Lakers having only 10 team assists and 30 team rebounds.  Conversely, the Celtics won the battle of the boards by gobbling up 43 of them and the Celtics had their customary number of assists (34).
  • Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo both had quiet double-doubles (KG: 18, 13; RR: 10,16).
  • The Celtics executed their offense down the stretch and got some key stops despite Kobe Bryant scoring 41 points and essentially getting whatever he wanted on the offensive end.
  • Nate Robinson finally had the game he’s supposed to consistently have.  He scored 11 points and hit three 3s.
  • The Celtics shot 60.3% from the field.  Wow.

That’s it for now.  Hayes will have a lot more later on.

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