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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 [...]

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Game Two: Celtics (0-1) @ Hawks 1-0) Open Thread

Game 2
Celtics @ Hawks
7:30 P.M. ET
Phillips Arena
NBATV/CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency:

Boston: 98.9 points/100 possessions (24th)
Atlanta: 102.4 points/100 possessions (14th)

Defensive Efficiency:

Boston: 95.5 points/100 possessions (2nd)
Atlanta: 98.6 points/100 possessions (6th)

Probable Hawks Starters: Jeff Teague (PG), Kirk Hinrich (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Josh Smith (PF), and Jason Collins (C)

Injury Report: Ray Allen is out for the C’s. Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia are still out.

THUMBNAIL

The Celtics will need both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to step up tonight if they want to have a chance to go back to Boston with the series tied 1-1.

As Ryan explained yesterday, Pierce doesn’t have a problem playing the point forward position. And if you really think about it, is there any other person on the Celtics that you would rather have as a high usage point guard than Pierce? Over the years, Doc Rivers has experimented with Ray Allen, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Nate Robinson and various other combo guards when Rajon Rondo wasn’t available and it’s safe to say that employing Pierce in that role this season has been the most successful. With the ball in Pierce’s hands, the Hawks will have to completely change their game plan. They won’t be able to go under screens and play off Rondo like the Hawks did in Game 1. The Hawks were really successful in cutting down passing angles and turning Rondo into a primary scorer. If they decide to employ the same strategy with Pierce, they’ll likely get burned big time. Keeping the Hawks honest with guarding Pierce is going to have great downstream effects in terms of touches for Brandon Bass and Garnett.  They’ll look to be beneficiaries of more open jumpers and I expect them to be able to knock them down with regularity.

I’m also not too worried about this weird, make-shift lineup Rivers is trotting out to start the game. The unit of Avery Bradley, Michael Pietrus, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, and Kevin Garnett has played close to 60 minutes together and they been largely successful according to Basketball Value.  It’s not ideal, but it’s not worst-case-scenario.

I mentioned in the 5-on-5 Series Preview that Josh Smith and Joe Johnson would have to play like the elite of the elite to beat the Celtics.  Turns out, I have half right.  Smith had maybe the best game of any player in the playoffs.  22 points and 18 rebounds are video game numbers. Or Al Jefferson-in-high-school numbers.  I don’t expect him to make as many jump shots.  I don’t expect Smith to snag as many rebounds.  But, I also don’t expect Joe Johnson or the Celtics to shoot as poorly as they did in Game 1.

PREDICTION

Celtics 90, Hawks 85

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