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The Ticker
8 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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8 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
9 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
10 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
13 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
13 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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Fait Accompli: Mavs 89 Shorthanded Celtics 73


ESPN Box Score • The Two Man Game • Mavs Moneyball

With Dallas able to key in on Boston’s only two scorers, the Celtics again found themselves struggling for points tonight. Like last night, grading the efforts of individual players would tell us little we don’t know and makes even less sense considering how shorthanded the Celtics were tonight. The team legitimately competed in the first half and still headed to halftime down by double-digits.

This is how unbalanced it was: Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Brandon Bass didn’t dress and Chris Wilcox (groin) and Jermaine O’Neal (wrist) both exited during the game. At times, poor Avery Bradley (a spirited 6-11, 12 points) was left contesting Dirk Nowitzki, who put up a 26-16 without much effort at all.

So, nothing new tonight. This team still needs a makeover that may or may not be possible but tonight doesn’t lend weight to that argument. Any team missing that many core guys is going to struggle to pull off a SEGABABA win on the road against a team like Dallas.

Still… with March 1st rapidly approaching, changes feel imminent, be they in the lineup or the roster. No time like the present for some more speculation.

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