Posts Tagged ‘Celtics’

Taking a closer look at Celtics-Lakers

February 7th, 2009

After taking a full day to digest Thursday night’s results, and revisiting the final quarter and overtime of the game, I have to respectively disagree with Celticshub.com contributor Zach Lowe’s analysis that the Lakers were the better team. This game was a back and forth battle which lacked any real flow due to the questionable (to put it kindly) officiating.

That being said, it was not the officiating that cost the Celtics this game. When Kevin Garnett fouled out with 4:22 left in the 4th quarter, the Celtics led 95-93. The Celtics played nine more minutes of basketball with the Lakers after KG hit the bench with the Lakers going +3 during this stretch eventually, giving them a one point win. Shockingly, the Celtics should have won this game. They squandered a number of opportunities to pull this out and had their flaws as a team magnified as the minutes wore on in overtime with KG on the pine.

These observations are not meant to take away anything from a gritty Lakers win on the road. They were gassed after a long road trip, and had that excuse waiting for them if they wanted to pack it in. However, this game was much more important to them than the Celtics. Psychologically after losing three in Boston during last year’s finals they needed to prove to themselves they could come into Boston and win. To make matters more impressive, they did this despite Kobe Bryant having a subpar game shooting the ball (10/29) including 0/4 in overtime.

Confidence wise, this game is what the doctor ordered for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, having posted lines of 20 and 24 points respectively. A sharp contrast from the disappearing act both pulled last time they visited town. And while both of these two deserve kudos, down the stretch their effectiveness offensively could be primarily attributed to the lack of KG on the floor and the insertion of Glen Davis.

In my mind, once Garnett fouled out in this game the Celtics were playing with house money. There is no way defensively the Celtics can match up with both of the Lakers big men without KG. Big Baby is the best PF defensively off the bench for the Celtics but that really isn’t saying much. His height defiency and lack of speed on rotations killed the Celtics on multiple possession at the end of regulation and overtime.

We saw shades of this sloppy defense and slow rotations with this lineup against Minnesota last Sunday when Al Jefferson and Randy Foye torched the Celtics on pick and rolls without KG. The Celtics survived that one simply because the Minnesota Timberwolves are still the Minnesota Timberwolves. In a game against the best in the west, the Celtics weren’t as lucky.

Regarding the Lakers poor free throw shooting: Yes they shot poorly for the game going 17/29 from the stripe. This fact has been used as an example of how much LA underachieved in this game. However this shooting was not a factor in deciding the game. The Lakers shot no free throws in the last six minutes of regulation. They went 3/4 in overtime with Odom hitting two clutch game winning free throws with 16 seconds left in OT after a foolish loose ball foul by Big Baby.

Speaking of Big Baby, let’s talk a bit more about how much of an impact offensively he had during crunch time and how it ultimately cost the Celtics this game. There is plenty of blame to be passed around for this development and it will start first with coach Doc Rivers.

Rivers has done a great job this year coaching but he had an off night Thursday. During last year’s finals one of the Celtics strengths was Rivers’ willingness to adapt his personnel to the Lakers defensive scheme. When the Purple and Gold clogged up the lane, and lagged off Rondo and Perkins, Rivers went small and inserted Eddie House and James Posey to spread the floor. This lineup along with the big three catapulted the Celtics’ game 4 comeback to give the C’s a 3-1 series lead.

The Celtics faced a similar Lakers defense once the Garnett fouled out of the game Thursday night. Down the stretch though, the Celtics went with a lineup of Pierce, Allen, Davis, Rondo and Perkins. This lineup allowed the Lakers to play off the three poor jump shooters and protect the hoop, forcing Pierce into several ineffective drives and tough shots and ultimately (and perhaps most disturbingly) FOUR JUMP SHOTS for Big Baby in the last nine minutes of this game.

Yes he made one of these jump shots. If KG is in the game though he likely makes at least two of those jumpers and the Celtics probably go on to win that game. However Glen Davis under no circumstances should be taking one jump shot at the end of any meaningful game, much less four. My problem with Big Baby right now as a player is he’s trying to become something he isn’t; a jump shooter. More after the jump

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Putting it all together

February 7th, 2009

Celtics 110, Knicks 100

This game has to be considered one of the most impressive victories of the season for the C’s. Going into the final quarter the Celtics faced a four point deficit. David Lee had woken up in the second half becoming a force on the glass. The Knicks were routinely beating the Celtics off the dribble, creating open looks for each other on the perimeter. The Celtics offense lacked any real rhythm, especially with the bench out there. Questionable officiating again arose, primarily in the Knicks favor. The Celtics were tired and the Knicks were hungry for a win in their gauntlet week of hosting NBA’s elite teams. The wheels appeared to be falling off for the C’s as they entered the fourth. 

Then, a funny thing happened. The Celtics came together as a team and arguably played their best all around fourth quarter of the season. Make no mistake the Knicks did not play extremely well in this game, but they did not give it away either. The Celtics forcefully took it, with a well balanced offensive attack and stepped up defensive intensity. Let’s take a closer look at the keys to the frame:

Bench Production:  Through the first three quarters, the Celtics bench had only contributed eight points against a defensively challenged New York team. The tone shifted from the onset of the fourth, as Leon Powe and Eddie House contributed monster performances on the offensive end going for 8 points each respectively in the final period. 

Powe saw action for the entire final quarter and took advantage of open looks under the basket when Kevin Garnett was doubleteamed. He used these chances to find open space under the basket and get to the free throw line. Powe also had a stellar performance on the glass with seven rebounds, as he had a nose for the loose balls. His 27 minutes was his 2nd highest total for the season. Powe has appeared to regain his and Coach Doc Rivers’s confidence and his consistent play in the last few games should allow him to steal back some of Glen Davis’s minutes at the PF/C backup spot.

Eddie House also had a tremendous 4th quarter, like Powe playing the full 12 minutes and going 3 for 3 on field goal attempts including 2 of 2 from international waters. Eddie was unable to get going in the first three periods shooting wise going 0/2 but a stretch midway through the fourth appeared to give him a spark. Let’s take a closer look;

(4:48) Paul Pierce turns the ball over and as the Knicks try to get up the floor with it House picks off a David Lee pass at mid court, dribbles down the court and pulls up and swishes a 13 footer in a 2 on 1 break.

This shot was huge as it extended the Celtics lead to 6 (92-86) as the teams still had been trading baskets at that point in the 4th. In addition to the lead, the shot appeared to give Eddie confidence, as he assertively hit two more open threes in the next three minutes, helping the Celtics to go ahead for good. More after the jump.

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The Christmas party ends tonight

February 5th, 2009

Boston (41 – 9) vs.
LA Lakers (39 – 9)
8:00 PM ET, TNT

Three things to watch for tonight:

  • The Lakers will be playing their fifth game in a six game road trip that has zigzagged across the country with stops in Minnesota, Memphis, New York and  Toronto. Not exactly an ideal traveling schedule. The good news for the Celtics is that besides the Lakers playing their 2nd game of a back to back, coming off a win last night in Toronto, they will be playing their fifth game in seven nights. The competition has not been challenging, with LA picking up wins against all four opponents so far — all sub .500 teams. However, none of the wins have been true blowouts until the end of the games with the starters logging major minutes in all of them, especially Pau Gasol who has averaged 43 minutes a game since Andrew Bynum went down. Knowing this, it won’t be surprising to see the Celtics have their foot on the gas from the beginning of this game with Rajon Rondo to try to run on and wear down what is likely to be a tired Lakers team.
  • As noted earlier, Gasol has seen increased playing time since Bynum went down and has been sure to reap the benefits posting huge lines averaging of 31 points and 14.5 rebounds in his last two games. It should be a different story in Boston tonight as Kendrick Perkins should make life tougher for Gasol down low. It will be interesting to see if the Celtics give any help to Perkins down low, and if a well rested Kevin Garnett will match up with Gasol at all when Lamar Odom, (who was inserted into the starting lineup at PF once Bynum got hurt) is out of the game. Gasol killed the Celtics down the stretch on Christmas Day, making several clutch plays down the stretch off of feeds from Kobe Bryant to wrap up that game for the Lakers. With Bynum not in there to clog up the lane however and take some attention off of Gasol, it will be intriguing to see how effective he is.
  • Who guards Kobe? The likely answer is a mix of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Tony Allen, who in particular has always been a pest to Kobe when the two teams have matched up. Kobe has clearly taken more of the offensive burden once Bynum went down, attempting 28 shots last night after going for 61 points Monday night in MSG. It will be interesting to see if the Celtics try to double or trap Kobe or instead let him get his 30-35 points and key on shutting down the rest of the Lakers offense.

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Game Preview: Meet the new-look Sixers

February 3rd, 2009

Boston (40 – 9) vs.
Philadelphia (23 – 23)
 7:00 PM ET, CSNE/CSNP

Three things to watch for tonight:

  • Kevin Garnett will be out again (flu) so we will once again likely see Big Baby starting, major minutes from Powe off the bench, and (gulp) perhaps even a Patrick O’Bryant sighting before the game is in doubt. The Celtics interior and team defense took a major hit Sunday against Minnesota as rotations were sloppy and Big Al dominated Big Baby and Leon Powe down low. Looking at it from a Sixers perspective it will be interesting to see if this is the game DiLeo tries to give Elton Brand more PT to take advantage of Garnett’s absence and the Celtics lack of depth up front.
  • Samuel Dalembert suffered a sprained ankle in Friday’s game against Washington. He managed to give it a go for 15 minutes in Philly’s loss against New Jersey but was clearly not at 100 percent and will not be again tonight. Kendrick Perkins trying to create some offense against Dalembert would generally be considered to be an impractical idea given Dalemberts’ defensive ability. However his limited motion could help Perkins have a productive game down low as well as open up the lane for Rajon Rondo if the center can not go significant minutes.
  • Paul Pierce will have his hands full on both ends of the floor with Andre Iguodala tonight, especially considering Tony Allen has been battling the flu. According to the Globe he will try to give it a go tonight but his stamina could be limited when trying to give Pierce a rest from guarding Iguodala

76ers team analysis:

The Sixers came into this season heralded as another legitimate threat to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference. After their impressive run to make the playoffs at the end of last season and their signing of Elton Brand, the future appeared bright in the city of brotherly love.

Brand’s mediocre offensive play at the start of the season failed to mesh well with the rest of the team out of the gate resulting in 9-14 start. Fan favorite coach Maurice Cheeks was shown the door in mid December, replacing him was Senior VP and Assistant GM Tony DiLeo.

Sending DiLeo down to coach was a bold move by GM Ed Stefanski as DiLeo lacked any coaching experience for the last 20 years and even then his job was working with the German National team. Due to this, Sixers fans were immediately skeptical of DiLeo, even booing him on his first night coaching in Philly.

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