Logo
The Ticker
17 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 [...]

3
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 [...]

44
Browse Archives by:

Game 9: Celtics (5-3) at Nets (4-2) Open Thread


Boston @ Brooklyn
Barclays Center
8:00 PM EST
TNT

Offensive Efficiency
Boston: 102.0 points/100 possessions (9th)
Brooklyn: 103.5 points/100 possessions (7th)

Defensive Efficiency
Boston: 101.1 points allowed/100 possessions (21st)
Brooklyn: 96.1 points allowed/100 possessions (20th)

Probable Brooklyn Starters: Deron Williams (PG), Keith Bogans (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Kris Humphries (PF), Brook Lopez (C)

Injury Report: Rajon Rondo is day-to-day with a sprained ankle. Gerald Wallace is out.

View From The Opposing Bench: The Brooklyn Game (formerly Nets Are Scorching)

Thumbnail: The Celtics are 5-1 in their last six games and on a mini-tear. Why? It’s not the defense. The Celtics remain in the bottom-third of the league in defensive efficiency. It’s the Boston offense — now 9th in the league — that’s responsible for recent fortunes. Of course, if Rondo is out of the lineup with the sprained ankle he suffered against Utah, points may be at a premium unless Leandro Barbosa can repeat his second half bailout.

It’s worth pointing out the Celtics would have lost last night’s game if it was played last season. Last year’s bench didn’t have the firepower to pick up the starters. The C’s may need a similar 40+ point effort from the reserves tonight. Jeff Green is a good candidate for a breakout night. The C’s are running clearouts for him lately and he’s playing with more of an edge. He stands to go upwards of 30 minutes and there’s no reason he can’t put in 20 tonight if he gets consistent touches.

Courtney Lee could also be important tonight. The Celtics have surrendered a lot of perimeter penetration the last two seasons and Johnson and Williams will be hunting for holes in the defense all night long. Jason Terry can’t guard either of them, so expect Lee to end up doing duty on one or both. Paul Pierce will probably check Johnson as well.

Prediction: It’s a tough game for the Celtics. We’ve got the SEGABABA. Rondo is either playing injured or out entirely. They’ll need offensive contributions from a half-dozen guys to pull it out. I think the defense takes a step forward tonight but they struggle to score.

Brooklyn 88 Boston 82

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>