Trifecta! Sacramento Kings blowout Boston Celtics 118-96
A good performance from Kevin Garnett was far from enough.
If Oprah invited me on her show right now for all of my accomplishments and contributions to society (like inventing a new drink at Taco Bell and watching the first two seasons of Community in two days), I would probably have a Tom Cruise-style meltdown and start jumping on the couch, laughing manically and screaming “IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT! JASON TERRY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD! COURTNEY LEE WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE SHOTS! THE DEFENSE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SOLID! KEVIN GARNETT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY! WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?! WHAT DO I DO NOW?!”
Fortunately, I don’t need to go on Oprah; I can just meltdown for you guys with my caps lock key on.
Seriously, I want so badly to believe in this team, and on paper, it should work. This isn’t Danny Ainge’s fault. He put together a group of players who seemed like they would fit together perfectly. But they haven’t, obviously.
So. Some bullet points, I guess, even though you don’t really need to be told that the past three games have been hellish.
- Let’s begin with a positive: Jared Sullinger was quite efficient, finishing with 10 points and 1.43 points per possession in 23 minutes. He also grabbed six rebounds, which is about 10 rebounds per 36 minutes — a very acceptable number.
- Jordan’s Jeff Green corollary (you can either have points or rebounds, but never both on the same night) remains in effect. Green scored 16 points (on 18 shots, so he did so inefficiently), and he grabbed a whopping four rebounds in 31 minutes. Not a great night from Green.
- For the second consecutive night, the Celtics allowed ABSURDLY good spot-up shooting numbers. More on this later, just know that Sacramento averaged 1.64 PPP on spot-up opportunities, which is a TON of PPP.
- Oh, and Boston gave up 1.64 PPP in transition as well. The defense is really solid right now.
- After starting the game 1-5 from the field, Paul Pierce got himself on track in the second quarter and finished with a pretty efficient game, shooting 4-8 from the 3-point line and 8-15 overall for 20 points. After a few rough games in a row, it was nice to see him shoot a bit better.
- Rondo dished out 10 assists (yay!). He also produced 0.22 PPP (ugh!), so his production was…um…questionable.
- Jason Collins’ line for tonight: 18 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block and two FGAs. Related: Collins started. Please make this little experiment stop.
- Non-Celtic fans seem to forget that Kevin Garnett is still extremely good. Garnett scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds in 28 minutes (18.24 rebounds per 36, if you were wondering). He was also the only Celtics starter who wasn’t a negative in +/- (he finished with 0). The other starters? Pierce: -23, Collins: -16, Rondo: -25 (!!!), and Terry: -20. Good work, all around.
And with that, the Celtics close 2012 in incredibly disappointing fashion. It doesn’t get easier as we kick off 2013: Boston faces Memphis on Wednesday. God save us all.
Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.
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Celtics Blog | Tom Westerholm | December 31, 2012
It is not getting easier Memphis,Indiana,Atlanta and New York.AB returns wednesday in limited action that is the only good news in what has been the worst Celtics stretch I have seen in a damn long time teams shot 51 percent in the last 3,64 percent down low in the paint and 49 percent from the 3 point line sounds like NBA 2K but it reality and I need to vomit
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As upset as I am at this team, really funny article.
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“Jason Terry was supposed to be good”?!!
No, he wasn’t. The fact that Dallas let him go so easily should have tipped celtics fans that the JT was far past his prime, as well as PP. It’s sad, but DA should have broken up the big three while we could have gotten something for them.
Anothe thing, I love Rondo, but If I could trade him for Damian Lilard from the Blazers, I wouldn’t think twice.
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Start Sullinger and bring up Fab Melo.
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Sorry, but JG only had 3 rebs in keeping with his usual 1 reb every 10 mins typpical effort. PP and JC played 40 mins and had 2 rebs – 1 each. In the last 3 losses (gms, however you want to name it) PP has 6 rebs. Besides his crap defense and shooting way too many fall-aways he now can’t rebound anymore. I say bring him off the bench and start JG so we can showcase him for a trade ASAP. I would cut JC loose immediately and bring Fab back to start. He may foul out every game, but at least there wouldn’t be ’0′s in all his other stats. I have to believe he could get at least 6 rebs and 4 blocks a night. And thank God AB is back. Going to take him a while to be fully in tune, but JT needs to be the 6th man. To lose to a 10-19 team and having 3 HOFs on our team is ludicrous. Doc needs to get it together or he can be fired, too. Absolutely pathetic and no Tyreke Evans either. Go Cs…can you guard the 3-line???
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Jet was supposed to be a 6th man. Bass was supposed to be a 6th man. Collins was supposed to ride the pine. If you start these guys (in absence of better alternatives) what do you expect?
A team stuffed with small and agile players should play small ball at supersonic pace, not play small at a lethargic one, settling for deep jump shots and iso-fadeaways.
The only player that’s bringing it to the hoop i Sully, a rookie that had to fight for his minutes despite Bass’ abysmal perfomance.
F** Doc, who’s responsible for this, but f** the players, as well, since they’re vastly underachieving.
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