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5 days ago

Terrence Williams Arrested on Gun Charges, Following Domestic Dispute

Terrence Williams was on the verge of coming back to the Boston Celtics next season after being one of the few bright spots of the Celtics’ postseason. Now, that journey is just an afterthought. According to a report from the Kent Reporter, a newspaper in Williams’ home state of Washington, the point guard was arrested yesterday [...]

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7 days ago

Kevin Garnett Will Avoid Foot Surgery

As we await Kevin Garnett’s decision about whether or not he will play a 7th season with the Boston Celtics, an important physical limitation has been avoided for the big man. After laboring through the last couple months of the season with a foot/ankle injury, which caused him to miss much of the regular season, [...]

9
8 days ago

Danny Ainge is Waiting on Talking Future with Kevin Garnett

Yesterday was a good day in Boston. We found out Doc Rivers would definitely be coming back as a head coach, the Bruins won in overtime, and the Sox had a big comeback as well. As the first big decision of the Celtics offseason came in though, a brighter light begins to shine down now [...]

15
9 days ago

Jeff Green’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Unless we’re discussing the eight or nine best players in the world, it’s impossible to separate a contract’s price from a player’s expectations, value, and overall performance. Jeff Green is the manifestation of this theory. In August he was guaranteed $36 million over four years, even though he didn’t play a single game during the [...]

20
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 [...]

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Game 44: Heat (28-12) @ Celtics (20-23) Open Thread

It's just so hard to see Ray Allen in a different uniform

Miami at Boston
1:00 P.M. ET
TDGarden
ABC

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.8 points/100 possessions (T-23rd)
Miami: 109.6 points/100 possessions (2nd)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.8 points allowed/100 possessions (T-8th)
Miami: 101.8 points allowed/100 possessions (11th)

Probable Heat Starters:
Mario Chalmers (PG), Dwyane Wade (SG), LeBron James (SF), Udonis Haslem (PF), and Chris Bosh (C)

View From The Opposing Bench: The Heat Index

Thumbnail:  The Celtics are set to take on Miami Heat today and the timing could not be any worse.  After suffering their worst loss of the season on Friday night, they not only have to deal with the second most offensively potent team in the Association, but also the unending questions about Ray Allen’s return.  Make no mistake, the Celtics don’t care about Ray Allen’s return at all.  They care about getting a win.  They will take a win any way they can get it and don’t much care who they are playing.  Unfortunately, it is exactly who they are playing that makes getting a win so difficult.

The Heat losses, much like the Celtics, have been filled with lackluster effort and low percentage shot-making.  Unlike the Celtics, the Heat have been able to bounce back after tough losses.  In an attempt to aid the recovery, Doc Rivers is playing his last hand and has inserted Jared Sullinger into today’s starting lineup.  Here’ Doc explaining both the rational and the trepidation:

I completely share Doc’s concerns with respect to messing with the bench chemistry and Garnett’s minute’s rotation.  Sullinger and Garnett are the Celtics two best post players and playing them together is a calculated risk.  The reward, however, could be huge.  If the Celtics can take advantage of their superior size, they may be able to get a quick start against the Heat.  If that proves ineffective, the Celtics still have the horses to run with the Heat’s small lineup.  Running with the Heat is one thing but actually coming away with a win is entirely different.

This Celtics team was designed to be able to hang with the Heat in a 7 game series.  This design is good in theory, but has been awful in practice.  While the Heat have been able to smoothly integrate their offseason acquisitions, the Celtics have had half a season’s worth of failed attempts to integrate theirs.  It’s not hard to see why.  The Celtics are asking their role players to carry far more weight than the Heat do of theirs.

Prediction:  It’s going to get worse before it gets better.  Heat 100, Celtics 89

 

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