Archive for the ‘Game Recaps’ Category

Back to back Gino sightings? It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the guy in two straight home games, but the Celtics responded tonight on the 2nd half of a back to back, with arguably their best effort, start to finish, of the season in a 26 point victory. Yes, it was against the Pistons, but with so few strong all around performances to point to in the last couple months, any kind of impressive effort is noteworthy at this point. This one, for the 1st half anyway, was a masterpiece.

It started with Paul Pierce tonight. The man came out with a purpose this evening, attacking the basket relentlessly in the first 8 minutes, earning 12 points and 3 trips to the line before exiting to the bench with 2 fouls with 4 minutes left in the frame. By that point, the damage had been done. The rest of the starting unit took a cue from The Captain and were sharp on both ends of the floor.

Ball movement? How does 34 assists sound, a season high. Strong rotations on defense? The best we’ve seen in awhile, just 38 percent shooting in 1st half for the Pistons and only 14 points in the paint. The C’s played stingy and were forcing a bad 3 point shooting team to take nearly a third of their shot attempts from deep early on.  A sense of urgency? Everyone came ready to play, with all 12 players in uniform getting on the board and 7 players scoring in double figures. Attacking the basket? Check. It was pretty to watch.

38 percent shooting for Detroit in the first 24 minutes, 20 percent from deep, 10 turnovers overall. This was a flashback to the last 2 years at home where this crew would tear up inferior opponents in all areas of the floor. The C’s imposed that kind of game at will tonight on this lifeless Piston squad.

The stat of the night though came on the offensive end. Just 1 turnover in the entire 1st half. Zach Lowe might have a heart attack when he sees this one on DVR. Just an incredible number, given how prone this team has been to making mistakes this year.

The Pistons are also one of the better teams in the league in this category, ranking 6th in the league in terms of percentage of miscues forced. Naturally, the C’s had 10 turnovers in the 2nd half, finishing with 11 overall, but those final 24 minutes were garbage time in all honesty. This one was over at halftime. » More: A Laugher: C’s 119, Pistons 93

ESPN Recap • Cavs the Blog • Fear the Sword • WFNY

Pace: 89 possessions (a tick below average)

Offensive Efficiency: 105.6 points/100 possessions (below average)

Defensive Efficiency: 116.9 points allowed/100 possessions (worse than the Raptors)

Thumbnail: The C’s tied this game at 68 mid-way through the 3rd quarter, but over the next 9:49 Boston shot 1-of-16 from the floor and 2-of-6 at the line as Cleveland opened up a 17-point lead. But the 68-68 tie was misleading; the C’s were outclassed in this game, and Cleveland kept the C’s in it by bricking too many foul shots. Boston committed a season-high 33 fouls which led to 48 Cavs foul shots—also a season-high for a Boston opponent. The C’s three-point defense was sloppy. Anderson Varejao was everywhere. LeBron James shot 14 free throws in one half. This was not an enjoyable three hours of my life.

Recap: There really isn’t much more to say than that thumbnail above. The Cavaliers were better than the Boston Celtics today, and, to be frank, the gap felt pretty large for most of the game. The C’s could not stop Cleveland without fouling, and they could not get enough good looks near the rim on offense to stay in the game.

Sure, it felt nice when the C’s tied the game at 68-68 with 5:13 to go in the 3rd, but it also felt like fool’s gold. The Cavs missed 17 free throws in this game, and had missed about a dozen by the time the C’s tied it up. Even at that moment, Cleveland felt in control of the game—a game, by the way, which the Celtics badly wanted to win. And that last tidbit makes the loss more disturbing. » More: Not Good Enough: Cavs 104, C’s 93

ESPN Recap • 3 S.O.B.  • Straight Outta Vancouver

Pace: 92 possessions (average)

Offensive Efficiency: 98.9 points/100 possessions (Nets-ian)

Defensive Efficiency: 120.6 points allowed/100 possessions (beyond league worst)

Thumbnail: The Grizzlies came into Boston and did everything but steal the C’s picnic basket. Memphis shredded the NBA’s best defense using mostly a simple high screen/roll, Boston got next to nothing from its front line and the C’s suffered just their second 20-point loss of the season.

Recap: Wow. I know, it’s the second night of a back-to-back in March, and the Grizzlies are a decent road team (now 15-17), and all the rest of it. But to lose to a .500 team at home by 20—with the 20-point margin actually under-stating how badly Memphis whipped Boston? I can’t just chalk that up to the vagaries of the schedule.

To my eyes, this was the single worst defensive performance of the KG/Ray/Pierce/Thibodeau era. This isn’t a black-or-white “Boston sucks and Memphis did nothing of note!” thing. Memphis has spent most of the season in the top 10 in offensive efficiency, Mike Conley and Marc Gasol can run a nice screen/roll, Rudy Gay can score and O.J. Mayo can go off. And there’s a reason every team in the NBA runs the screen/roll on half of its possessions—it works.

But the missed assignments, the inability to adjust, the communication breakdowns—this was not Celtic basketball as we’ve come to know it.

I said earlier that this might be the worst defensive performance in the post’-07 era, and the numbers show I’m not far off.

» More: Mauled: Grizz 111, C’s 91

Bucksketball • Brew Hoop •

Thumbnail: The Celtics lose a tight one in the Bradley Center against the streaking Bucks who are now winners of 10 of 11 overall in what could be a potential 1st round preview between these two squads. For the Celtics sake, they better hope it is not, since they had no answer for Andrew Bogut, who had another monster game with 25 points, 17 boards, 4 blocks and one posterizing dunk on Glen Davis you can witness below in Zach’s post.

A back and forth gritty defensive affair featured some strong outside shooting from the Bucks from John Salmons and Carlos Delfino which helped keyed an 18-9 fourth quarter run that gave the Bucks a 7 point lead. The C’s closed the gap nicely to two in the final 3 minutes, giving themselves a chance to tie the game on a Paul Pierce fadeaway from the elbow as time expired, but the shot rimmed out.

Pierce had an off night all evening, while Ray Allen’s failure to get involved (0-3 for the night) kept the C’s perimeter game to be almost non-existent while he was out there. On the good news front, Rondo had one of his best offensive games in awhile, attacking the basket relentlessly for 20 points and a highlight reel jam of his own. KG had a nice bounce back offensive effort as well. Defensively, except when trying to defend Bogut, the entire team looked as good as they have for stretches in a long while.

All in all, a tough road loss against a good Milwaukee team who really wanted this game (4 starters played 40+ minutes). Give them credit for the win, but definitely no reason for the Green to hang their head in the visitors locker room. » More: Playoff Preview? Bucks 86, C’s 84