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5 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 [...]

15
5 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
6 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 [...]

92
7 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
10 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
10 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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Time to worry? Heat 100, Celtics 77

ESPN Box ScoreThe Heat Index

For the second time in four days, the Celtics received a beat-down from one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Today, it came at the hands of the Miami Heat, who now control their own destiny in terms of locking up the #2 seed in the East. If you want to look at the glass half-full, the Heat played exceptionally well on both ends of the floor, as well as I’ve seen them play this entire season. And if you want to go even one step further, you could make the argument that homecourt advantage isn’t essential to winning a potential second-round matchup against Miami.

But that’s pretty much the only bright spot you can take away from today’s game. Here are some initial reactions:

*Miami out-rebounded the Celtics 42-26, resulting in an extra 11 shots for the Heat. Joel Anthony basically just did what he wanted on the boards, collecting 10 overall and four on the offensive glass.

*Not surprisingly, the Celtics struggled on offense on a day when Rajon Rondo simply didn’t have it. Rondo had only 7 points and 5 assists, and at no point looked comfortable trying to penetrate Miami’s defense.

*And of course, there’s Glen Davis, who shot 3-11 from the field (count this as another game in which BBD attempted more shots than Ray Allen). It eventually reached the point where the Heat defenders were leaving Davis open and daring him to make it.

*Hopefully Doc Rivers was paying attention when the Celtics made a mini-run at the end of the 4th quarter. If you noticed, it was Jeff Green playing with that starters when the C’s were able to spread the floor and run the court. Yes, it was a blow-out at the time, but it was some of the only good offensive basketball we saw from the Celtics all game.

More analysis to come after we all digest this game a little more.

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