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 [...]
Thumbnail: In the spirit of early season overreactions, let’s linger on the Celtics’ abysmal defense through two games (check the alarming number above), the mounting injuries and the awful, terrible, no-good concern that Boston has entered that no-man’s land of the Association, where they’re just good enough to beat most mediocre teams, but at least one major piece shy of being able to challenge the big boys (also known as Milwaukee-ness).
On the upside, Paul Pierce is a seriously major piece, and these have been two of the most encouraging losses of the last few years. The bench looks stronger, the offense surprisingly perky, and it is – after all – early. So, in this first auspicious SEGABABA of 2011-12, the C’s have a very winnable game in New Orleans and a chance to give us all reason to exhale.
Nobody here at CelticsHub wants to be writing about an 0-3 team tomorrow.
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May I now direct your attention to Eric Gordon, the central player New Orleans received in the Chris Paul trade? C’s fans who didn’t watch a ton of Clippers games last year (everyone but Bill Simmons) may not be familiar with his game but he’s a rising star in the league and only 23 (as of Christmas Day).
What’s special about Gordon is his ability to create his own shot off the dribble and get to the line (you could make an argument those are the two most important offensive skills come playoff time and reference guys like Dwayne Wade, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler and the like).
When you marry Gordon’s basket attacks with a passable outside game, he’s a worrisome matchup for anyone in the league, particularly Ray Allen, who may not be strong or fresh enough to handle him. I’d expect we’ll see Avery Bradley covering Gordon for stretches tonight.
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PREGAME ANALYSIS
Pierce is out, Kevin Garnett has been less than assertive on the offensive end and the C’s still sport the 9th best offense in the league after four days of action. Speak not of small sample sizes! I reserve the right to be blindly optimistic, especially if the defense starts to resemble something like the one we’ve watched the last four years.
New Orleans has only one star and, more importantly for the Celtics, they’ve barely had time to figure out their offense since the Chris Paul trade was finalized.If Boston can keep Gordon out of the paint (hello strong side zone) and make consistent Celtics-of-yore efforts on defense, Monty Williams’ squad will likely be forced into second and third options off of broken plays. Clamp down on their outside threats (particularly Belinelli) and it’s a reasonable bet that the Hornets can’t do enough damage to win this one.
And of course, a few stops will unleash one Rajon Rondo to attack in the open court. Rondo looks determined to prove that he is not a big scaredy cat when it comes to attacking the rim. Through two games, Rondo is averaging 8.0 attempts at the rim (he was at 4.3 last season). He’s also taking an incredible 11.5 free throw attempts per through the first two games (last season: 1.9).
It’ll be interesting to see how Doc Rivers handles his rotation tonight, in this first 24-hour-turnaround of the season. Danny Ainge gave him a deeper bench than last year and though it’s been thinned by the injury to Chris Wilcox, there are enough guys there to contribute the kinds of minutes that will keep Allen and Garnett fresh in May. If Doc uses them.
Keyon Dooling and Brandon Bass have both distinguished themselves as rotation players through the first two games.
Who’s next?
PREDICTION
Joe Gerrity of the Hornets247 is predicting (tongue-in-cheek, mind you) that his post-game headline will read: Hornets Obliterate Celtics.
I’ll say he’s 100% dead wrong — for basketball reasons.
The Ticker
