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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 [...]

19
7 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
8 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
12 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 [...]

9
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Look Up For Gino! Celtics 104 Blazers 86


ESPN Box Score • Portland Roundball Society • Blazer’s Edge

Nate McMillan must be furious right now. Or in despair. Either would be understandable because this was the kind of game that could get a coach fired.

We’ll forgo the individual grades tonight because there was no competition. The Celtics were facing an utterly disinterested Portland team (with the exception of LaMarcus Aldridge who did some damage on the offensive end until he accepted that Portland’s modus operandi tonight was ‘get killed and then get outta town’).

If you didn’t see the game, ignore the score. It’s not representative. At one point the Celtics were up 43 points in the third quarter. Only a relaxed fourth quarter allowed the Blazers to make this one respectable. Even the Celtics that got pasted in Philadelphia on Wednesday night would have crushed Portland tonight.

The Blazers turned the ball over 28 times, an NBA season-high for 2011-12. The Celtics get credit for forcing some of these but mostly it was just the Blazers’ starters (a combine -115 on the night) who fumbled the ball away like they were trying to get themselves shipped off before the trade deadline.

It’s a nice win for the Celtics as they head out for the two-week road trip that may end up defining their season. The starters went short minutes (Kevin Garnett played only 22) and they can land in Los Angeles for back-to-back games against the Lakers and Clippers with some swagger.

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