Regress: Boston Celtics fall to New Orleans Hornets 90-78
"Tonight, I'll see you in my nightmares." -Kanye West
Please, let’s not make this about Doc and Austin Rivers.
The story line has been beaten to death and, in the end, it had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the game. One man is a coach. A very good one, to be sure, but even the best coach can only make rotations and draw up plays. The onus is on the players to execute those plays, and the Celtics executed nothing well tonight. The other man is a player, but he is not a good player. He is a very mediocre bench player with limited upside in the NBA. So let’s not make this about two men who were not responsible for the loss.
Instead, let’s make this about a bad team effort on one end by the Celtics and an inspired effort on the other by players like Al-Farouq Aminu (ugh), Greivis Vasquez (double ugh) and Robin Lopez (every ugh that has ever been ugh’d). You’ve heard the debate over whether one team wins or the other team loses a game? Tonight was a rare night in which the Hornets earned their win and the Celtics earned their loss simultaneously.
Let’s get to some bullet points:
- SO MANY JUMPERS, ALL OF THE JUMPERS. The Celtics live and die on their jumpshots. I appropriately died 1,000 deaths tonight because the Celtics missed roughly 1,000 shots from outside the paint. It was an unbelievably ugly offensive night for the C’s.
- Here’s the overall offensive carnage: Boston shot 4-18 from 3-point range (WHY ARE YOU STILL SHOOTING?!), turned the ball over 15 times (WHY ARE YOU MAKING SUCH AWFUL PASSES?!) and shot just 6-16 from the free throw line (I give up).
- You probably don’t need to be told, but the Celtics were out-rebounded by 15. That will happen frequently when A) Your team is outworked on the glass and B) When you miss, as previously mentioned, 1,000 jump shots.
- I’ve defended Paul Pierce on multiple occasions because, honestly, I feel his bad reputation as an iso player is overblown. But he was indefensible tonight. Or perhaps he was utterly defensible in that he was well defended? I leave it to your judgment. Either way, he shot 1-7 from 3-point range and 5-16 overall. Rough, rough night for the Truth.
- The single game +/- stats may not back me up tonight, but I honestly see no reason why Avery Bradley should be getting just 22 minutes per game. The defense is noticeably better when he is on the floor, and although both of his foul calls were questionable tonight…well…he only had two fouls. It is worth noting that Greivis Vasquez beat him to the hoop several times, but this makes me physically ill and I will say no more on this subject.
- Five bad turnovers for Rondo kind of negates his 11 assists, no? He did have two unbelievable reverse layups in the first half, but just eight shots on a night when the offense was struggling badly to get into the paint shows a serious lack of aggression.
- Rather than giving each bench player who didn’t show up their own bullet point, I’ll give you a list: Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and Jared Sullinger (mentioned below). Jason Collins doesn’t get mentioned with those three because the last time he actually showed up for a game was 1928. Jason Terry was a little bit better than usual.
- Sully was the victim of a few questionable rookie calls tonight, which really seemed to limit his aggressiveness on the boards. He finished with a very uncharacteristic two rebounds in 21 minutes.
Frankly, that’s all I have energy for. It’s one loss, but it’s a painful one, and given the lackluster performance against Charlotte as well, it certainly seems like cause for concern. Just know that if the Celtics play with that kind of energy against Chicago on Friday, they will lose badly.
Since we started with the father/son theme, let me hand the mic to Jared Sullinger’s father for the final word on tonight’s game:
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Satch.
Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.
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Celtics Blog | Tom Westerholm | January 16, 2013
First of all, Austin Rivers has tons of upside in his future. Second of all, not counting Jason Collins as part of the bench is ridiculous , some players perform well without a point. It was just one of those nights that we starting thinking we can win without effort especially with a 21-11 start. Don’t over react and let’s hope it woke them up. The celtics haven’t been able to win without effort since 2009(before the KG knee injury)
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Same old 2009-2012 lame effort; whereby the Cs think all they have to do is show up with no effort needed and then play down to the opposition instead of playing championship caliber ball. Killed on the boards (-15) and that’s with PP getting 10 rebs, but no offensive ones. Our bench played 93 mins and had 9 rebs; or 1 every 10 mins. So they sucked. We had more shots than NO, but shot 6-16 in FTs and had 15 less FTs even though both teams had the same number of PFs. Guess we fouled only when they were shooting? So my prediction we go 9-1 in the ten game stretch we’re in through the end of the month is out the window and we’re 1-1. Absolute pathetic effort. And so once again, we are back to losing to sub .500 teams, at home of all places. No effort, no rebounding, prima-donna swagger all leads to a lame loss. Go Cs…didn’t think our season could get worse, but this effort proves me wrong. Again.
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Wtf was that? that’s all I have to say…
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Y did LB get next 2 no court time and play RR and CL who played like shit. Doc is silly.
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I know! Every time LB touches the court he scores like a machine, but of course he’s not gonna put much of a performance playing 2 min per game… he should play terry’s minutes until terry wakes the f*ck up
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(haven’t watched the game) I thik it’s pretty stubborn (and stupid) on Doc’s side insisting on beating a dead horse. of the 3 “backup guards”, LB is by far the most effective, yet he’s the one getting the fewest playing time. I’m almost glad NOH beat us, since I was scared by Danny’s comments “I’m happy with our current roster”. not that it meant much, speaking of Ainge, but the trade deadline is getting closer and the trade exception expired. Time for a big man. Forget about big names as Cosuins, but what about Gortat? Pekovic? even Mahimi would do
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Last night was the perfect LB game, we couldn’t throw it in the ocean he may have sparked us in the third quarter
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I would certainly give him more time as he has EARNED it. He plays flat out all the time, can run the floor, defends pretty decently and rebounds. In 24 mins/gm in his career he has averaged 12 pts. Why not give him at least 15 mins per game? Go Cs…
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’cause there are not enough minutes for all the 5 guards (and Doc’s small lineups suck – badly)
that’s why I’m beggin’ for a trade
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e.g.: there are 96mins for the guard positions.
let’s assume Rondo plays 35 (conservative estimate) and Bradley plays 30 (ditto).
If LB plays 13 mins, there are 18 mins left for Jet and Lee combined. 5 guards and no centers are going to hurt the Cs badly. Can you imagine KG after 4 playoff games against Chandler or Smith?
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We need to jettison a SG and I’d prefer keeping CL over JT. If we can get a big man then maybe it will not matter. Go Cs…
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Leaving LB on the bench is yet another reason why Doc hasn’t got an idea. It’s all well and good Doc and his little family reunion but before he gets all sentimental he should realize there’s a stadium of fans that went home disappointed last night, not to mention the millions around the world who watch these pathetic losses against sub-par teams. Time and time again you upset us Doc. There is NO excuse for leaving guys to rust on the bench while your starting 5 gets their ass beat.
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