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 won their first game last night since the trade that sent Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. Still, there is not a whole lot of substantial information with which to walk away. The Celtics ultimately wore down a pretty bad, yet exciting, team and came away with the win.
Sure, Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic made their debuts which was pretty exciting. Green gave an underwhelming performance by going 2-for-5 from the field and finishing with seven points. Overall, the Celtics were a -10 with Green on the court and he had two turnovers. Oh, and as mentioned in my previous post, he got dunked on hard by Randy Foye. Check it out:
Yowzas!
Krstic, on the other hand, exceeded everyone’s expectations by not only being active on defense but also on the offensive glass (all six of his rebounds came on the Celtics’ side of the court). It was great to see a guy who is not known for is aggressive play or his toughness get his nose dirty. Most Celtics’ fans are worried about how fast these guys can assimilate to the Celtic way and it looks like Krstic is on board. If you’re the sentimental type that will wonder someday what Krstic’s first basket as a Celtic looked like, never fear. Now that you saw a seven-footer get stuffed by the rim you can wish you were left wondering.
Green will get better too. He looked out of sorts last night and most of his offense came on one-on-one moves. Unless you’re name is Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant, you probably shouldn’t file away these moves as “go-tos”. These types of moves, however, are to be expected from offensive-minded players who haven’t had enough time to feel-out their teammates. Green’s mobility and size give me enough cause to be excited regardless of his blah performance. I really expected Green to attempt a few threes, a skill he has been working on since he found out he really couldn’t hack is it as an NBA power forward. Luckily for Cs fans, he didn’t. Watching new guys jack up three pointers is the fastest way to a fan’s dog house.
Odds and Ends
Despite this game really being about the newbies and how they would do, other things happened too. Most notably, this:
It scares me that this is humanly possible. This has to equate only to ninjas running up walls or contortionists doing things that give me intense heebie-jeebies. How Blake Griffin can do this at full speed (and not in a dunk contest) is beyond me. Really, I can’t even do this on a trampoline, on my most flexible day, and in an anti-gravity chamber. Trust me, I’ve tried. LeVar Burton took me to Space Camp in 1990.
Delonte West had his best game since his wrist has healed enough to allow him to play. He was incredibly active, deflecting passes and harassing Clipper guards. He also really showed us what to expect from him off the bench and ultimately what made Nate Robinson so expendable. He finished the game with 7 points and 5 assists. Do you think the Lakers would like this type of production from Steve Blake? Yes, yes they would.
Kevin Garnett filled up the box score with his second straight double-double. He finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He’s probably channeling all of his anger over losing Perkins into playing basketball, which makes me think the Celtics should purposely piss KG off before every playoff game. Thoughts?
Rajon Rondo had 11 assists but curiously only 2 points on 1-of-2 shooting. I tried to think back at how that could have happened and have made a conjecture: when the Celtics have a center who is an offensive threat, Rondo does not have to be so assertive with his offense. Should be interesting to find out whether that’s proven right or wrong.
Randy Foye scored 32 points on a series of really fast dribble pull up threes and strong moves to the basket. He looked like a faster Dwyane Wade last night and it may be safe to say he’ll never look like that again.
I know DeAndre Jordan is super tall and really athletic, but Chris Kaman is the best center on that team.
The most underrated part of this trade is that the Celtics all call Nenad Krstic “curly”. I can only guess that the nickname is derived from his name beginning with a “K” and that terrible Donald Trump comb-over/dead animal he sports on his dome-skull.That’s it for now. Much more later tonight and tomorrow so stay tuned.
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