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6 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 [...]

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7 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
8 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 [...]

93
8 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
11 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
12 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 [...]

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Where Have You Been: C’s 107, Spurs 97

ESPN Box Score48 Minutes of HellPounding the Rock

This one feels good. Because it was the offense, people! The offense finished off the game tonight, and the Celtics won the fourth quarter!

And because we can welcome back Rajon Rondo, league’s best passer, and introduce Rajon Rondo, jump shooter. The shots that weren’t falling for the Celtics over the last four couldn’t miss tonight. Rondo, Davis, and especially Garnett were hammering jumpers to close out the game. Who knew Rondo would be a better shooter than the greatest shooter of all time tonight? He finished at 22, 14, and 5 with, perhaps most impressively, zero turnovers. Who knew Paul Pierce would lead the team in rebounds with 11? This kind of Celtics offense, with the ball movement and the fighting for extra possessions and the quality shots, is what we’ve been missing.

The defense, meanwhile, had a few holes that were hard to notice with the Celtics scoring on every possession. Tony Parker got to the rim as it occurred to him in the early going, until Rondo started staying front of him slightly better in the second half. Big Baby, meanwhile, caused some non-problems for Tim Duncan on defense, so the Spurs went straight at Baby in the fourth, earning Duncan 10 consecutive and virtually uncontested points.

Baby struggling on defense was even more difficult to watch in light of the other bad news of the game: the loss, potentially for the season, of Nenad Krstic. His knee popped out of its socket and it was disgusting. Lucky, then, we had the presence of Jermaine O’Neal to console us. He was a deterrent underneath and made both of his shots. We feel for the Serbian’s injury, but it’s nice to have the littler O’Neal back in its wake.

Ryan will have more for you later, but until then, thank Krstic in your head for his contributions this season and wish him a speedy recovery. Make ‘em say ugh, Nenad Nenad.

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