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19 hours ago

Jason Terry’s 2012-13 Final Grade

  Acquiring any player, whether it’s via trade, free agency, or the draft, comes with an air of uncertainty. The NBA has no guaranteed covenant and all sales are final, no matter how talented, proven, or productive the player may have been in year’s past. But these memories—especially recent ones—often clouds the judgment of a [...]

4
10 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
10 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
11 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 [...]

94
12 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
15 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 [...]

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Paul Pierce Has A Sprained MCL, Bradley Has Sore Rotator Cuff

We knew the captain’s left knee was banged up, but the C’s made the unusual move this morning of announcing formally that Paul Pierce has a sprained left MCL. They also announced Avery Bradley has a sore left rotator cuff (left shoulder) but Pierce, Bradley and the rest of the C’s all took part in the team’s shootaround this morning in Waltham before Game 6 at the TD Garden tonight.

The news of a Pierce injury is no surprise (we all saw how much he was favoring it in Game 5) but it does explain a bit more about the extent of the ailment. Since suffering the injury during Sunday’s shoot-around before Game 4, Pierce has just made one trip to the free throw line in the past two games. Before that? He had been there 30 times in Games 1-3.

For an offense that struggles to score, Boston can win without Pierce getting to the free throw line. Nonetheless, without the threat, it just makes life on the C’s offense that much harder and makes the need for everyone else on the roster to shoot well even more crucial. Between getting some rest and getting their defense set, getting to the line pays major dividends for the C’s. Pierce is the best and sometimes only man for that job in Boston, but it remains to be seen if he can be more than a hobbled jump shooter with the injury. Keep a close eye on it tonight.

Bradley spoke a bit to The Boston Herald about his shoulder injury this morning. The shooting guard scored just two points in 17 minutes on Tuesday night:

“It feels good,” Bradley said. “It’s just a little sore, but I’ve been fighting through the pain all year so I’ll be ready for the game. I’m going to get hit and there’s a chance it could pop out, but I try not to think about it. I just go out there and just play.”

Game 6 tips off in just over seven hours.

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