Archive for 2010

Morning Walkthrough: Rivers might rest KG, Pierce?

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

"You guys ever gonna be okay?" (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “The coach says he’s willing to consider changes to his rotation, which is rather like the White House being open to tort reform. Rivers has been wringing out his brain in search of a strategic alteration or motivational trick that will slap the Celtics out of their slumber. The fact remains the Celts must count on their more senior citizens to get them through this. Specifically, if Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett don’t begin playing better, then every other discussion is moot. Considering these two have had physical issues this season, this is where the talk of Celtics problems veers into the ‘unable.’ Garnett and his right knee have looked much better since the All-Star break, but Pierce has been wildly inconsistent dealing with multiple maladies. Rivers said late Wednesday night he’s deciding whether to rest them more or let them play themselves back to their needed levels.”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “You’ll find some who believe the 32-year-old’s numbers have dropped in part because he’s lost a step or two with age. Others believe he settles too much for jumpers and doesn’t attack the rim as much. There’s also the fact that the addition of new players such as Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson and the emergence of Rajon Rondo, has made the C’s less reliant on the Captain’s scoring. Whatever the reason, the end result is obvious: Pierce, while still a good player, doesn’t dominate games offensively the way he used to. And when you look at the NBA landscape, what’s the one thing all title contenders have on their roster? A player who can dominate games offensively.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Pierce insists that he’s getting the looks he wants and that the shots he’s putting up feel good to him. They just aren’t falling. ‘I don’t even think it’s really about shots,’ Allen said. ‘It’s just about being well-tuned, well-oiled as an offense. Everybody has to be selfless. Open man gets the ball. Everybody has to make the screen, make a cut, make a pass for somebody else. That’s what teams are doing to us. With the talent we have, everybody’s a weapon out there, so we have to use everybody.’”

Peter May, ESPNBoston – “It also makes it difficult when the two players on whom you most depend, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, are mere shells of themselves right now. The company line is that they will get better as the season winds down and the playoffs begin. Watching them play night in and night out, particularly Garnett, one wonders how that is ever going to be the case. KG has been back for almost two months and still looks hobbled. Guys blow past him — and over him — with impunity. In Milwaukee on Tuesday night, he bit on an upfake from Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova, came down on his back and tumbled to the ground as Ilyasova made the basket (and the free throw). You can be sure a photo of that play is on every storefront in Istanbul.”

Zach Lowe, CelticsHub – “Only about a dozen point guards in the entire league got to the rim as often as Robinson over those two seasons—and all but one of them played significantly more minutes than Robinson. (I went over the numbers in this post, if you’re interested). In nine games with Boston, only 10 of Robinson’s 56 shot attempts (17.8 percent, about one attempt per game) have come at the rim. He has made just three of them. To Nate’s credit, the shot attempts he used to take at the rim are now coming from three-point range—and he’s made 13 of 29 (45 percent) from deep with Boston. If a guard with a decent three-point stroke stops attacking the rim, you generally prefer him to shoot more threes instead of long two-pointers. Robinson has only attempted 11 two-point jumpers beyond 15-feet since joining Boston, and that is in line with the percentage of shots Robinson has taken from that range in each of the last two seasons.”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.

Maine vs. Iowa Preview

Maine Red Claws (23-15) vs. Iowa Energy (31-10)
7:30 PM Friday, March 12, at the Portland Expo
5:00 PM Sunday, March 14, at the Portland Expo

The Maine Red Claws have two monster showdowns this weekend, as they face the the East – and league – leading Iowa Energy (Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns) twice, Friday and Sunday.

Doc, Perk: Boos were deserved

Doc Rivers and Kendrick Perkins both admitted that last night’s boos, loud and frequent as they were, were deserved.

Doc: (WEEI)

Rivers said his team earned the boos that rained down upon them from the TD Garden crowd. “Yeah, that was pretty good, and we deserved it,” he said. “Listen, I’m not a fan of booing anything. … But that was frustrating for the fans as well. I always think you support your team good or bad, but last night was so bad — and it’s rare where I’d say this — I had no problem with it at all.”

Perk: (WEEI)

Asked about the boos from the home crowd Wednesday night, Perkins said he was surprised they started so early, in the first quarter, but that it didn’t bother him. “Not really. I think we deserved to get booed last night,” he said. “We didn’t give our best performance last night. We’ve got to do a better job.”

Asked if he felt the team could coast through the regular season and then turn it on for the playoffs, Perkins said: “No, I don’t think. I feel like we have 19 games left. We’ve got to get it going, sooner or later, before we get into the playoffs.”

Rivers also said his team quit during the game.

Asked if his team quit, Rivers said it didn’t start out that way, but that’s how it ended up. “I thought they gave in as the game went on. Yeah, there’s no doubt, you can call it ‘quit’ or whatever,” Rivers said. “But I don’t think they mailed it in when they showed up. If you look at the first eight minutes of that game, I thought we competed. We missed every shot, every wide-open shot. … When things went bad, I didn’t think we had a lot of resolve to fight it last night, and that was obvious, But when you watch the beginning of the game, the ball was moving. We missed wide-open shot after wide-open shot after wide-open shot. … What bothered me about it was as we missed shots we hung our heads more and more.” Added Rivers: “On the [defensive] end is where the breakdowns came. As the game got worse, our fight got less, and that bothers me.”

Agreed about the boos, and about the quitting.  And the boos happened because the quitting happened.

Highlight Reel: Justin Darlington soars

Who is Justin Darlington?  I’m not really sure.  I’d never heard of him before stumbling across this highlight reel.

But who he is isn’t as important as what he does.  And what he does is jumping like he permanently has a trampoline under his shoes.

Last night was KG’s worst loss as a Celtic

Last night, the Celtics were given a shellacking worthy of bums, right from the opening tip. It was bad, there could be no denying that.

But did you know that it was the worst loss KG has ever had in Boston? (AP recap via FoxSports)

It matched Boston’s worst loss of the season, tying a 20-point loss to Cleveland last month that was the worst loss for the Celtics with Kevin Garnett in the lineup.

The worst loss overall for the Celtics in the KG era, from what I can tell through looking at the game logs from the past three seasons, is still the 107-76 loss to the Cavs that KG missed due to injury.

Sekou Smith: Celtics are who we think they are

Want a pessimistic voice from an impartial observer?

The Celtics are donezo.  Toast.  Buried. (Sekou Smith, NBA.com)

The fact is, these Celtics are exactly who we think they are.

Same as the Knicks (who secured their ninth straight losing season with Wednesday’s loss in San Antonio), Warriors, Wizards, Timberwolves and Nets.

Obviously, the Cs don’t have anything in common with those teams from a won-loss standpoint. And they remain a significant speed bump for some team with designs on a trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

But like the Knicks, Warriors, Wizards, Timberwolves and Nets, they are a finished products as far as we’re concerned. We know how their seasons will end.

For all of you believing that the KG and crew will knock the dust off in a few weeks and mount some cosmic run at a second title in three years … have fun with fantasy basketball.

The C’s, nothing but a significant speed bump for some team with a greater destiny.  Ouch. And did you see the group of team’s Smith lumped them with?

Just to cheer you up a little after Smith’s depressing opinion, here’s another guy who found a team that was who he thought it was.

Report: Michael Sweetney to join the D-League

If only Sweetney could stay in shape...

Some D-League team will soon have to expand its postgame spread:  Michael Sweetney will be coming to town. (Ridiculous Upside)

Last I’d heard about Michael Sweetney, ShamSports reported that he signed in China after failing to earn a roster spot with the Boston Celtics this preseason (I’m fairly certain that the above video shows everything Sweetney did with Boston, so you can be the judge if that was deserved or not). I assumed this would be the last anyone in America would ever hear from the ninth overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

I was wrong.

Sources close to the situation have told Ridiculous Upside that Sweetney will join the NBA Development League and is expected to clear waivers at noon today.

Ridiculous Upside continued to speculate that Sweetney might be headed to the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ D-League affiliate. It would only make sense, RU explained, after Doc Rivers became enamored with the BIG man during his time with Boston this preseason. Maine also has the “first crack at picking him up” off the waiver wire, and would be able to keep close track of Sweetney’s progression.

However, sources tell Celtics Town that Maine is content with its current big men, including former Michigan St. Spartan Paul Davis. There are not likely to be many, if any, further roster changes in Maine this season.

Even as the C’s affiliate, the Red Claws organization operates as its own entity, so Boston won’t have the final say in whether to stash Sweetney in Maine.

Rasheed Wallace is delusional

You sure your team steps up for big games, Rasheed? (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

I read a tweet last night from CSNNE’s Rich Levine.  It read: “Since Jan. 10, the Celtics have beaten only two teams with a winning record. Kobe-less Lakers and the everyone-less Blazers (x2).”

I’m not sure if he meant “with winning records at the time,” because both Miami and Charlotte are now one game over .500.  Whoop-dee-do.  Either way, the Celtics haven’t beaten anyone of note in quite some time.

So why in the world is Rasheed Wallace contending that the Celtics play their best against the league’s top teams?  (Boston Globe)

Doc Rivers pondering lineup changes

"What the hell am I going to do with these guys?"

You can say this about Doc Rivers: He hasn’t hit the panic button.

As many times as he has probably wanted to give his team a smack in the ass (pause) and shake things up, he’s stayed steady in the way he’s handled his squad. With a veteran squad, a coach shouldn’t be too much of a dictator. Most of the time, a veteran team will work problems out by itself, due to the vast knowledge the players have accumulated over the years.

With all the older, smarter players at his disposal, Doc’s leash has been visibly loose. But, with the disappointment rising and time to fix the teams’ problems drawing short, even Doc has to admit it might be time for a change. (Boston Herald)

“We’ve been reluctant to make many changes with our rotations and stuff like that,” he said after last night’s 111-91 loss to Memphis. “Maybe we have to think about that. Maybe not, but we have to think about it, because right now we’re just sketchy. We’re not playing consistent.”

This constitutes a significant step for Rivers and is a measure of his own frustration with the Celts.

“Yeah, but, you know, I’m slow to change,” he said. “I think consistency is better, but I think at times you do have to think about it. I’m not a big believer in change for change. If it’s not going to be a long change, I think that’s a waste of time personally.”

When it comes to change, Doc isn’t exactly Barack Obama. By the time Doc wants to switch something around, it’s probably long past overdue. But what the hell is he going to change?

Almost definitely not the starting lineup. The only change I could see him making to the first five would be to sit Kendrick Perkins in favor of Rasheed Wallace. Say what you want about Rasheed, but he’s outplayed Perk over the last month or so. As Perk continues to lose momentum, Sheed is starting to round into shape, playing down low with the trees like a real big man should. Last night, Sheed was the one bright spot. When he wasn’t posting and toasting, he was going all Rickey Henderson on the Grizzlies. Six steals? For a big man?

I wouldn’t shift the starters, though. Perk hasn’t been playing as well as Sheed, but losing his starting spot would be a further hit to his confidence.

Instead, I’d change the bench. Not necessarily who plays off the bench, but how many minutes, and who they play with. Put Nate Robinson in with Rajon Rondo sometimes, and kill with speed. Or Marquis Daniels at the point with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on the wings, and low-post teams into oblivion. Or a lineup of Robinson, Allen, Pierce, Scal, and Garnett and shoot opponents to death.

Doc ternds to play the second group as a whole unit. Sometimes, I want to shake him and scream, “Doc, this isn’t hockey! There’s no need for line changes!” The Celtics have a versatile and deep team, but Doc hasn’t made use of its versatility. I’m not saying I want him to turn into Don Nelson, but…

Play the matchup games, Doc. Experiment a little. Be the Mad Scientist.

The Celtics would be better for it.

Morning Walkthrough: Home losses piling up

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “The Celtics’ 111-91 loss to Memphis was their second in a row, and 12th at home this season. Consider the last two seasons, Boston only lost 12 home games combined. Throughout the season, there has been a laissez-faire attitude toward the team’s shortcomings. But with 19 regular-season games remaining, there’s little doubt the Celtics’ concern level has increased. Kevin Garnett isn’t one to overreact to one loss. But when you look at Wednesday’s loss, and the loss at Milwaukee less than 24 hours earlier, and the loss last month to the woeful New Jersey Nets, and . . . you get the picture.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “‘Well, if you guys were looking for a good message in the game, there was one: ‘Two minutes left in the game.’ When they announced that, that was the only good message in this entire game,’ Rivers joked to crickets. ‘We were awful tonight — energy was awful. I thought, honestly, we started out, we wanted to play. I thought the first seven or eight minutes we played with great energy. We couldn’t make a shot. And I think I talked about this a couple of games ago, because we couldn’t make shots, you could see us not running back on defense, getting down, and that’s the one disappointing thing about tonight and other games, is right now our offense -– our lack of offense — is dictating how we play defense. And that’s disappointing.’”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “The C’s understand the significance of the support from their fans. While Pierce was surprised by the reaction, he knows the team has to give a better performance every game. ‘Yeah, it surprises me,’ Pierce said of their struggles at home. ‘You come out on your home court and get this kind of loss and get booed by your home court. I haven’t been on a court where we’ve been booed. It’s been a couple times this year. It’s been about five or six years since I’ve seen that. We’re still 17 games over .500. All the fans want is constant effort night in and night out. I think we’ve got to be more consistent with that regardless of if we win or lose.’”

Gary Dzen, Boston Globe – “Allen held court with Rajon Rondo in the Celtics locker room before tonight’s game, the backcourt duo discussing the poor ball movement that led to Allen attempting only three shots last night against the Bucks. According to Allen, neither Rondo nor Kevin Garnett was aware after the game that Allen had attempted only three shots. ‘I told Rondo that offensively we were real stagnant last night,’ said Allen. ‘There’s no way this team should score 84 points. Not with the offensive talent that we have. I said, ‘I look at you, you’re the point guard. I know Doc makes a lot of the offensive calls, but you’ve got to make sure that when we come down the floor, that ball goes from one side to the other, I’m touching the ball, Paul’s touching the ball. We’re all capable of making plays.””

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘Because we didn’t make shots, you could see us not running back on defense, getting down,’ Rivers said. The further the Celtics sank, the more energized Memphis seemed to become. Rivers said his team (average age: 29) can’t be expected to run with a team like Memphis (24.5). ‘It hurts when you give them spirit,’ Rivers said. ‘There’s no doubt about that. We’re not going to get any quicker. You know when you give an athletic team that’s skilled — I mean they’re a skilled athletic team — when you give them confidence, the way we’re constructed, it makes it difficult.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “That opinion is supported by the 48-29 busting the Celts took on the boards. And by the tone of Garnett’s voice afterward. ‘I’m not going to sit up here and try to make excuses for anything. We’ve got to play better, especially at home. This is where we make our mark and this is where we supposedly lay our heads, and we’ve got to protect it like that. There’s got to be more of an urgency or whatever. It’s not about coming in here talking to you guys about it; it’s actually going out there and doing it.’ Or taking a hard fall when they don’t.”

Rich Thompson, Boston Herald – “While his young Grizzlies have undergone positive changes, Hollins insisted that the Celtics command elite status in the Eastern Conference. ‘I just want to say though, it’s a big win and we are happy with the win,’ said Hollins. ‘But we know we caught the Celtics on a down night. They played back-to-back, had to travel home from a tough game last night in Milwaukee. They’re still, in my mind, one of the top three teams in the East and they’re going to show that as they go forward into the playoffs. We caught a break that helped us, and we’ll take it.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Before putting on a punchless effort against the Grizzlies, the C’s found boxing gloves autographed by Manny Pacquiao in their lockers when they arrived at the Garden. The players had become friendly with the WBO welterweight champion when they went to one of his fights while on their summer 2008 title tour in Las Vegas. ‘There’s no message,’ Rivers said of the gifts. ‘It honestly wasn’t from me. Pacquiao’s obviously a huge Celtic fan. He tried to get to our walkthrough in the ballroom before we played the Lakers, and he couldn’t make it. So he just sent that to us, which is nice. Good gesture.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “‘I think we’re out here just trying to figure it out,’ said Kevin Garnett when asked if the team is stuck searching for answers to their recent woes. ‘But I don’t think the final score was indicative of our effort.’ So let’s take KG’s word for it. Let’s say effort wasn’t the issue tonight. So then, what does that mean? Well, it could only mean one thing: That the Celtics were trying to match the Grizzlies’ speed and athleticism, but didn’t have the firepower to do so; that they were dead set on crashing the boards, defending the perimeter and getting a hand up on a would-be jump shooter, but just don’t possess the resources to make it happen. It means, at least for one night, the Grizzlies were a better team. Faster, stronger, and more athletic. Which has quickly become the recipe for defeating the supposedly superior Boston Celtics.”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.

Boston cracked by Memphis, 111-91

Well, that was humiliating. (Photo by Brian Babineau/Getty Images)

Crickets and boos.  Boos and crickets.  Those two sounds were all that could be heard in the Boston Garden tonight.

After tonight’s 111-91 loss, on the heels of a two-point loss to Milwaukee, Celtics fans need more than boos.  They need Booze.  And probably a lot of it.

For the Celtics, it was more of the same:  One step forward, two giant steps backward.  That’s the way this whole season has gone, so why should they stop now, with the regular season so close to completion?  A four-game winning streak, a nice comeback, and the Celtics almost tricked me into thinking they had a pulse.  Even last night’s loss was understandable:  The C’s went ice-cold and Bogut played like the most dominant center since Abdul-Jabaar was still Lew Alcindor.

But what the hell happened in the TD Garden tonight?  Nothing good, I can tell you that much.  If you were to look at the stats, it would look like only Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace had good games.  17 points and 8 assists for Rondo, 11 points, 6 steals, and 3 blocks for Wallace.  Then you look a little deeper, and you see that Rondo made the Mike Conley-Marcus Williams combo look like John Stockton and Steve Nash, and that leaves Wallace as the only decent Celtic standing.  There was nobody else to be proud of, no other shining moments.

I would keep writing, but I’d rather just try to sleep this one off.  Maybe I’ll wake up in the morning and forget all about it, but I’ll probably be thinking about Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo even in my sleep.

Before the nightmares come, I’ll leave you with just one last thought.

Tonight’s game reminded me of a scene from Good Will Hunting.  You know, the one where Will tells the story of his father giving him three choices: the belt, the stick, or the wrench.

Just like Will, the Celtics chose the wrench.

‘Cuz f–k winning, that’s why.

Tonight’s pregame locker room scene

The Celtics are preparing to play the Memphis Grizzlies tonight. Here is a preview of the pregame locker room scene. Consider this tonight’s game preview.

Highlight Reel: Rondo’s putback against Bucks

I could have gone with this dunk.  If I were unbiased, I definitely would have.  But I couldn’t do Big Baby dirty like that, could I?

Instead, I went with the next-best choice: Rondo’s putback dunk.  Point guards aren’t supposed to do stuff like this.  Not where I come from, at least.

Flip Saunders: Don’t get Garnett’s juices flowing

Flip Saunders had some fantastic quotes the other night after the Celtics-Wizards game. He talked about how his team pissed down its own leg, ripped his team’s newfound best player (Andray Blatche), and basically sounded off like Stan Van Gundy Light.

He also had one more great quote, about what not to do against Kevin Garnett or other wound-up, insane, hyper-competitive superstars. (Washington Post)

“We talked, screamed, talked, did a little bit of everything,” Saunders said. “His argument was, ‘I’m not going to let anyone talked like that.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to understand one of the keys at this level is understanding your opponent. Understanding what they try to do and as much as anything, this game becomes mental.’

“That’s what Garnett does, he talks. He’s talked for his whole career,” he said. “He tries to get into people. He gets more frustrated with guys like Tim Duncan that don’t talk back. Guys that talk back, he feels like he’s getting through to him and it kind of motivates him, gets his juices kind of flowing. One thing you don’t want to do with a guy with a high motor, a high-energy guy like Garnett. You don’t want to force them to go to the next level.”

With Saunders’ advice in hand, I think I would fare very well against KG. I’d let him scream my ear off, kiss my cheek, insult my mother, and do and say whatever. I’d simply sit quietly until he imploded, then I’d stroll in for a layup as Rasheed Wallace undoubtedly would forget to rotate and help KG out.

Perfect plan? Yup, I’d say so.