An Inevitable Loss: Pacers 97 Celtics 83

An aggressive night offensively from KG, who shot 53% from the field and played until he was completely exhausted. Let’s remember that instead of the fact he managed only 5 rebounds. That’ll be standard issue as long as this team runs out the same non-big men at center. Overall, Boston got more from him than I would have expected after last night’s long minutes and tonight’s short turnaround.

He played with force (10 free throw attempts), which was encouraging but he also forced it (6 turnovers, many of them egregious), which was not. It’s a work in progress with Pierce, but he’ll get there in time. Tonight was a step forward, albeit a clumsy one.

He’s become total deadweight on offense unless someone sets him up on a pick and roll. Otherwise, he shouldn’t get the ball. His defense, too, seems buttressed by people’s recollections as much as what he’s giving Boston now. Context: twelve boards and three blocks in 25 minutes is nothing to sneer at, especially given the fact he’s being asked to do too much at his (effective) age.

Allen struggled on defense tonight but that probably would have happened even had he not played long minutes last night. Paul George just overmatches him at this point in his career. The iciness on the offensive end was predictable too.

Rondo made efforts to push tempo but didn’t manage to control the game the way he did last night, in part because he didn’t have the kind of energy required to compete with an entire team’s defense (it’s amazing how often he has to outwork multiple guys to create a shot on the offensive end). Also turned the ball over 4 times. Anyone count how many assists he lost off the C’s missing easy shots?

He was hurling up bricks from the arc tonight, not that it stopped him from firing. Nothing on the boards, it should be noted.

Bass has a great lunchpail attitude out there. Always plays hard, always goes at the rim, always brings energy, usually shoots decently, and is bringing in more rebounds lately. He’s miscast as a starter, so it was good to see him come off the bench again tonight.

Two blocks in nine minutes isn’t exactly Bill Russell (no matter what Tommy says) but how can the Celtics continue to run JO out there instead of Stiemsma? At least Greg can hit a jumpshot.

Ignore the grade as the body of work merits an incomplete more than anything else, but it’s still nice to see the kid in a game, even in garbage time (although he did defend one out-of-bounds play in the first half). One tip for him: call Glen Davis for nutritional tips. JJJ needs to bulk up.

Twenty minutes! That doubles his entire season total in one night! Moore’s finally at the point he won’t be denied. He’s raw but confident, and you don’t cringe when he’s handling the ball like you do with another young point guard on this roster. I like his scorer’s mentality.

He’s playing himself out of the rotation. Go look at his one missed field goal attempt from tonight. He had a good look at the rim from about 18 feet and didn’t even draw iron. What’s the goal here? Develop Bradley or win games? These two things are not compatible.