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The Ticker
9 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
9 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
10 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

94
11 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
14 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
14 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

9
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Again With The Losing? Sixers 89 Celtics 86

ESPN Box Score • Philadunkia • Liberty Ballers

There’s probably some temptation to tie tonight’s failings to Boston’s recent roster shakeup and the need to integrate new players into the rotations and teach them sets without the benefit of much practice time. Those are fair points. With Doc Rivers mixing his lineups with old guns and new, the efficiency of the various five-man units was bound to suffer. But this game was entirely winnable, except for the Celtics’ inability to manufacture crunch time scores and stops, and, in particular, finish at the rim, where Philadelphia always seemed to have a long, athletic guy (or Spencer Hawes) waiting to swat or alter a Boston shot.

And in a race for the top seed in the east, without the excuse of a back-to-back, this loss is inexcusable and falls firmly on the shoulders of the big four, who turned in mostly mediocre nights:

Kevin Garnett: 5-13, 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists.

Rajon Rondo: 12 points, 5 assists.

Paul Pierce: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers.

Ray Allen: 2-11 shooting for 5 points.

None of those lines are awful, save Allen’s, but Boston needs better results out of all of them, especially against an energy-to-burn outfit like the Sixers.

There are a few upsides we’ll discuss later involving the newbies, but no silver linings so tarnished as Troy Murphy finally making a basket.

So, it’s two losses in a row for the suddenly ailing Celtics.

Commence rationalizing, panicking or discussing the loss with exactly the right amount of perspective.

The choice is yours.

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