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Kevin Garnett, PF 29 MIN | 5-13 FG | 6-8 FT | 13 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 16 PTS | -7The good news for Garnett is that he only played 29 minutes, after playing 47 on Sunday. I don’t care if the Celtics could have been assured a win if KG played more. They need to make sure he’s not over-worked by the end of the season or the playoff pipe dream we’re all holding on to won’t mean a thing.His stat line is on par with what we would consider a great game from KG, which usually means the Celtics won. However, when you look at Byron Mullens line (25 and 18) it adds a little perspective. It’s important to keep in mind that many of Mullens points came from the perimeter and that it’s not as if he went one-on-one with KG in a vacuum. Help defense exists. Switching picks exists. And Garnett did only play 29 minutes, spread out over four quarters. Still, 25 and 18?! |
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Brandon Bass, PF 32 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -10Bass played more minutes on Sunday and was substantially worse than he was against the Bobcats. From memory, he took one baseline jumper early in the shot clock and overshot the hoop by a wide margin. Other than that, I didn’t think Bass was especially worse than anyone else. The whole team seemed out of sorts due to traveling and being on a SEGABABA. Bass showed a lot of effort attacking the glass despite not being a strong rebounder or actually connecting on a lot of those efforts. Those efforts did, however, translate into eight points and seven rebounds which you would take from Bass any day of the week. |
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Paul Pierce, SF 29 MIN | 4-12 FG | 4-4 FT | 8 REB | 8 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | -10Pierce shot poorly and never recovered to match the heroics of Sunday’s thriller. He played far more point forward tonight and tried to take advantage of mismatches every time he got a smaller guy (i.e. Kemba Walker) switched on him. They didn’t work. A contested free throw line jumper is still a contested free throw line jumper regardless of how tall the defender is. Credit the Bobcats for getting up into Pierce and making him feel every jumper he took. It felt like he was absorbing a lot of contact, but sometimes that’s just the way the whistle blows…or in this case, doesn’t. |
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Avery Bradley, PG 35 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | -3Contrary to popular belief, young guys get tired too. Bradley didn’t have a particularly effective game, which would make two in a row. I’ll withhold comment on this being any sort of trend until after Wednesday’s game.He made up for subpar shooting and letting the Bobcats guards go off a bit by giving us the highlight of the night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBEmtVAWO3s |
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Courtney Lee, SG 19 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -7I said it before and I’ll say it again. The Celtics need him to play better. |
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Jeff Green, PF 24 MIN | 5-8 FG | 7-7 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 18 PTS | +10Green was both aggressive and effective. I have may have my own qualms about his game, but I’ll save those for later. |
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Chris Wilcox, PF 17 MIN | 3-4 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -1This was the perfect type of greasy game in which Wilcox really could have shined. It was nice to see him run up and down and the offensive production is great. But it all gets obscured when he does something like not box out Byron Mullens and give up an offensive rebound and putback. The basketball 101 stuff is his downfall. |
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Jason Collins, C 13 MIN | 0-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 1 PTS | +7On Sunday, he was seen sporting a big ice wrap on his back and didn’t play much. Does that change the way you feel about his production tonight? Me neither. |
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Jason Terry, SG 29 MIN | 4-8 FG | 1-1 FT | 0 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +4If Jason Terry had just connected on one or two of his three misses from deep, it may have been enough to break the Bobcats’ back. Then again, the Celtics could have gotten complacent, sat on their lead and eventually gave it up. Which is what they did numerous times. |
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Leandro Barbosa, SG 12 MIN | 1-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | +2Barbosa wasn’t exactly lighting the Bobcats up before he went down, but this one really hurts. Barbosa is the perfect “break glass in case you need quick points” guy that the Celtics always knew they had on the bench. Now that raining day fund is tapped out. Here’s to hoping he gets well soon, a phrase we’ve said far too much this season. |
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Doc RiversI really liked the way Rivers’ didn’t play Pierce of Garnett over 30 minutes. I didn’t like how he didn’t use all of his timeouts solely for resting purposes. The Celtics could have won this game on talent alone, completely forgoing any sense of strategy. That said, Rivers timeout usage is hardly any reason the C’s lost. |
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The Ticker
