Feeling Like Losers

Posted by Brendan Jackson on Mar 15, 2011 180319 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F03%2F15%2Ffeeling-like-losers%2FFeeling+Like+Losers2011-03-15+14%3A49%3A47Brendan+Jacksonhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D18031

PACE: 87 possessions (slow slow)

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 90.8 points/100 possessions (Milwaukee (season) level)

DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 101.1 points allowed/100 possessions (Par for the course)

The HoopData numbers are out!  Hooray!  Not only did last night’s performance from the Cs pass the “Ring” eye test, but now we have empirical proof that it was terrible.

I am not going to get incredibly detailed with this addendum to the recap because despite the doomsday-sayers about Rajon Rondo being a fraud, last night’s game was 1 of 82.  The Celtics are 3 for 10 when it comes to sweeping a back to back.  Given Sunday night’s blowout of the Bucks and the consequential rest of the Celtics’ starters, you may have thought the Celtics had a chance to get their 4th sweep of a back-to-back.  I think it’s pretty evident that the Celtics are not going to be sweeping any back-to-backs this late in the season regardless of situation (and especially SEGABABAs).

Here are a hodgepodge of thoughts from last night’s game:

Kendrick Perkins made his OK City debut and actually looks pretty okay in Blue (6 points, 9 rebounds).  I flipped to the OK City game during the commercials and saw the Thunder striking down the Wizards.  Perkins looked to have an okay game and the announcers gushed that he was already bringing that Celtic leadership to the mini-bolts.  I think in the long run, the Celtics did Perkins a favor.  No one knows what the Celtics are going to look like after the 2012 season when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen’s contracts are up and the Thunder are going to be good for a while.

Jeff Green is a one dimensional player.  Sometimes that one dimension is really pretty.  Like this turnaround jumper to end the first quarter:

And sometimes it’s not so pretty.  Like the three times Travis Outlaw broke his ankles on the same pull back dribble.

Green was in sharp contrast tonight with Glen Davis.  He just did not seem to play with the same vigor as his bench counterpart and was often the beneficiary of Davis’ hustle.  I am not sure what accounts for this, or if this is even true or merely just appeared to be the case last night.  However, if this happens to be true it could have something to do with Green being a starter since he entered the league and now being relegated to the bench.

Speaking of Davis.  Sweet line.  16 points, 14 rebounds.  He shot 50% from the long two area which is definitely noteworthy considering we lambaste him when he shoots poorly.  So kudos to Davis.  Still, he was an overall minus 6 on the night.  This is far from a perfect stat for measuring individual performance, but a couple of things contributed to Davis’ impressive stat line that were actually independent of anything Davis did.  The most obvious thing is that the NETS weren’t exactly world beaters last night.  They narrowly edged out a win despite the Celtics severely struggling on offense.  The NETS (save for Kris Humphries) are also awful on the glass and their big men pretty much lack all toughness and aggression.  They are more interested in taking long jumpers than mixing it up in the paint.  Or attempting comically bad no-, look passes.  I hate to poke fun at a player trying to expand his repertoire, or maybe even doing something in a game that he has had some success doing in practice/pick-up.  Yet, I have to post this no-look pass attempt from Johan Petro for every one’s amusement:

You can see Petro sees Anthony Morrow in the corner and tries to rifle a pass in his direction despite looking at the low post.  No one bites for this from what I can only assume is due to the fact that instead of using his peripheral vision, he’s keeping his head forward and shifting his eyes toward Morrow.

* * *

That’s really it for now.  More on Rondo later.