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8 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
9 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
10 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
10 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 [...]

42
14 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 49: Lakers (23-26) @ Celtics (25-23) Open Thread

http://a.espncdn.com/i/mag/2008issues/061608/sportsguy.jpgLos Angeles at Boston
8:00 P.M. ET
TD Garden

TNT

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 100.2 points/100 possessions (20th)
Los Angeles:
105.3 points/100 possessions (8th)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.9 points allowed/100 possessions (6th)
Los Angeles:
 102.8 points allowed/100 possessions (16th)

Probable Lakers Starters:
Steve Nash (PG), Kobe Bryant (SG), Metta World Peace (SF), Earl Clark (PF), and Robert Sacre (C)

View From The Opposing Bench: Forum Blue and Gold

Thumbnail: Make it five consecutive victories for the Celtics! They outscored the Raptors 30-16 in the fourth quarter on Wednesday and had one of their best comeback wins of the season. Boston hopes to bring this momentum from Canada to TD Garden on Thursday against the Lakers. In addition, Kevin Garnett could reach the 25,000-point milestone. If he scores six points, he would bring back flashbacks of Ray Allen’s record-setting night almost two years ago on the same stage. At TD Garden on February 10th, 2011, Allen surpassed Reggie Miller for the most three-pointers made all-time in a loss to the Lakers.

Now in 2013, the Allen-less Celtics have another player who will be rewriting the record books. Garnett hopes the result of the game is different this time around. The Celtics enter Thursday as winners of five consecutive games while the Lakers have been victorious in three straight and six of their last seven. However, Los Angeles will be without Pau Gasol, who is out for at least six weeks with a partial tear of his plantar fascia. The team could also be missing Dwight Howard, who has been out for the last three games with a shoulder injury.

While the Celtics bench did not impress as well as on Wednesday as it has been recently, Leandro Barbosa continues to step up with his increased playing time. For the third consecutive game, he scored in double-digits, his longest streak this season. Paul Pierce made up for the bench’s somewhat weak play with his 35th regular season double-double since 2007-08. The Celtics are now 29-6 in those games. Look for Pierce to continue his strong rebounding with both Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger sidelined.

Prediction: The Celtics push their winning streak to six games, which ties their season-best one in January.

Celtics 98, Lakers 95

For more Celtics coverage and pertinent statistics, follow Celtics Hub and Stats Adam Lowenstein on Twitter: @CelticsHub and @StatsAdam

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