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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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6 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
7 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
11 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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On The Board: Celtics 96, Pistons 85

ESPN Box Score • Detroit Bad Boys • Piston Powered

Oh my how the Celtics needed that!

And the best news is that the Celtics held the Pistons under 90 points after failing to prevent that in their first three games.  Were there defensive lapses? Sure.  But the overall defensive display was impressive.

Along with the return of defensive basketball, the Celtics also got some unexpected contributions from Jermaine O’Neal  (19 points, 7 Rebounds, ZOMG +25!) and the Cap’n Paul Pierce (12 points).  Pierce’s line may have looked pedestrian by his standards, but he showed no ill-effects from the heel injury and made all his patented step-back jumpers.

Despite the convincing win, the Celtics’ all bench unit still looks pretty lost.  That is definitely something to watch as the season goes on.

* * *

We’ll have more for you Celtics’ fans to chew on tomorrow but tonight, I’ll leave you with this:

During the post-game presser, Doc Rivers mentioned that he took Lawrence Frank out to dinner last night (they are former colleagues after all) and Doc said that there was “no chance” Paul was going to play.  As you well know, Pierce did play and really changed the entire way the Celtics started the game.  He also was the only player with which the Celtics ran isolation plays.

It’s funny.  After years of seeing Pierce be the offense and go exclusively “one on five” for substantial stretches, I never thought I would be so happy to see him post his defender up on the wing, face up, and make a move.  This may prove to be the biggest luxury the Celtics have this season.

After the game,  Frank had this to say about Pierce:

“Paul changes the game for them. Regardless, I know he’s only practiced once this whole year, but you know what he’s capable of doing.  He’s an outstanding defender as well.  He’s got a pretty decent shot at the Hall of Fame.”

I wasn’t actually in the room when Frank said this, but I can only imagine that he was joking a little.  Pierce not making the Hall of Fame?  He’s underrated but not THAT underrated.

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