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5 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 [...]

16
6 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
7 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 [...]

92
7 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
11 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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Game 20: Sixers (11-8) @ Celtics (10-9)


Philadelphia @ Boston
TD Garden
7:30 PM EST
CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 101.5 points/100 possessions (15th)
Philadelphia: 99.1 points/100 possessions (23rd)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 100.9 points allowed/100 possessions (13th)
Philadelphia: 100.2 points allowed/100 possessions (11th)

Probable Philly starters: Jrue Holiday (PG), Jason Richardson (SG), Evan Turner (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Lavoy Allen (C)

View from the opposing bench: Philadunkia

Thumbnail: After Friday night’s squander, the Celtics get another crack at Philly at home. Had Jason Terry (1-12) made shots at anything resembling his typical rate, the C’s would be looking for a sweep of this home-and-home. As it is, they hit the quarter pole of the season with their offense and defense lingering in the middle of the NBA pack, a 10-9 record and the usual annual questions about, “is this team done as as championship contender”?

The C’s will try and answer tonight but they’ll do it on the backs of a tired batch of starters. Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Jason Terry all went over 40 minutes last night and Kevin Garnett played 34. Rondo’s got bounce-back-ability in him but the C’s may need a big night from the suddenly surging (relatively speaking) Jeff Green. Doc Rivers would be wise to load up with touches, especially because Pierce is doing his best Antoine Walker impression lately. He finished 9-24 last night, and 1-8 from the arc.

Prediction:
If the Celtics lose, they fall back to .500, a team not appreciably better than they are worse. Unfortunately, I think that’s where we’re headed.

Philadelphia 88, Boston 85

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