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7 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
9 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
12 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 [...]

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Game 40/66: Celtics (21-18) @ Lakers (24-16) Open Thread

Boston @ Los Angeles
Staples Center
3:30 PM EST
ABC

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 98.1 points/100 possessions (25th)
Los Angeles: 101.5 points/100 possessions (13th)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 96.0 points allowed/100 possessions (3rd)
Los Angeles: 98.3 points allowed/100 possessions (9th)

Probable Lakers starters: Derek Fischer (PG), Kobe Bryant (SG), Metta World Peace (SF), Pau Gasol (PF), Andrew Bynum (C)

View from the Opposing Bench: Forum Blue and Gold

On February 9th, the Celtics faced the Lakers in a sloppy overtime slugfest at TDGarden.  The Celtics lost mostly due to their inability (unwillingness?) to run their offense.  When this Celtics team doesn’t run their offense, they get poor shots and their lack of height/ability to secure offensive rebounds puts them at an obvious disadvantage.  Playing the Lakers only highlights these deficiencies given how good the Lakers are at hitting the glass.

Since the Celtics last lost to the Lakers, the C’s have matched both their longest winning and losing streaks (5 games). Meanwhile, the Lakers have gone 9-5 and have got a strong win against Miami and a rare loss to Washington.  There couldn’t be more of an “anything can happen” game than today’s contest.

Obviously, the news on Chris Wilcox’s potential heart condition is a scary situation both in terms of Wilcox’s health but also because of the Celtics’ dearth of front court depth.  It’s probably for the best that Wilcox is missing this game given what Kobe Bryant did to Ricky Rubio the other night with his mind bullets.

The Celtics begin a long road trip today that will see them face some tough competition.  The C’s are going to have to play the Lakers, Clippers, Hawks, Sixers, and Nuggets all on the road and all before March 24th.  It’s essential that they start their road trip off right with a win today.  There isn’t a point during this road trip that they will be more rested than they are right now and a loss today could spiral the C’s back down another losing streak.

Prediction

Celtics 95, Lakers 90

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