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8 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
9 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
11 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
14 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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Celtics-Suns Grades

Phoenix Suns 79 FinalRecap | Box Score 87 Boston Celtics
Kevin Garnett, PF 29 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 10 PTS | +7
Garnett had a nice little game tonight. I emphasize the “little” considering he only had to play 29 minutes. Still, in limited minutes KG put up 10 points and 5 boards and, as I mentioned in the quick ‘cap, was the only Celtics starter to have a positive +/- value. Not too shabby for having to battle Marcin Gortat and former Celtics blob Jermaine O’Neal for much of those 29 minutes.
Brandon Bass, PF 27 MIN | 2-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 6 PTS | -17
Poor, poor Brandon Bass. Bass was a grotesque -17 on the night. You might have noticed it more on another night but outside of the Celtics inept 3rd quarter, Bass was okay. He’s been far more aggressive on the boards and trying to get to the rim with varying degrees of success. Tonight wasn’t so successful but I’ll take 6 points and 5 boards in a win any day.
Paul Pierce, SF 24 MIN | 3-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 7 PTS | -9
Pierce spent large chunks of the game with his shooting shirt on due to the Celtics bench playing extremely well. Pierce needs to relish the games that Rivers can keep Jeff Green on the court. He would have been graded lower, but 7 boards in 24 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. Pierce’s 7 boards definitely bumped his grade up.
Rajon Rondo, PG 31 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 8 AST | 8 PTS | -8
In his return from suspension, Rondo had a rare quiet game that will prompt some people to scream, “we don’t need him!” Don’t listen to those people.
Avery Bradley, PG 18 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS | -6
Aside from his first game back, tonight was the first game where Bradley’s impact didn’t hit you over the head. Goran Dragic did a really good job hurrying the ball up the court, preventing Bradley from draining the shot clock. The good news is that his jumper is improving.
Jared Sullinger, PF 34 MIN | 6-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 16 REB | 3 AST | 12 PTS | +24
If Sullinger turns into a 20 point, 15 board player, tonight will be one of those “where were you then” games. As I mentioned in the quick ‘cap, this was easily the best game of Sullinger’s career and hopefully a sign of things to come. Sullinger’s played extremely well during this four game winning streak and there have been signs that something like this may happen. Even during the games in which he didn’t rebound a lot, he was still very active and in position for boards.
Jeff Green, PF 26 MIN | 5-9 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 14 PTS | +16
Jeff Green had a very nice game, but there are still some major concerns. Many of his points came in transition or off the ball. The Celtics are trying to prove to everyone that Green can get his own shot when he needs to but he really only has two moves 1) strong right handed drive; and 2) long two point jump shot. If his opponents take away that drive, he’s left with virtually nothing. I would love to see Green play more off the ball and really use his athleticism like he did tonight.
Jason Collins, C 5 MIN | 0-0 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +2
Collins had an incredible missed dunk on a fast break and caused Rivers to earn a technical foul when the officials gave Collins a no-call on an attempt to take a charge. Sounds like a net negative.
Courtney Lee, SG 19 MIN | 2-5 FG | 2-4 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS | +12
Lee is starting to find his role on this team. He’s providing on-ball pressure and scoring when the opportunity presents itself.
Jason Terry, SG 27 MIN | 6-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 5 AST | 13 PTS | +19
Terry’s shot is finally starting to come around, which is only half of what was good about tonight. Terry also had an excellent game passing the ball and attacked judiciously. Let’s hope he keeps up the activity.
Leandro Barbosa, SG 0 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | 0
Best. Stat-Line. Ever.

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