Just A Few Observations!

This series vs. Orlando the C's are going to neeed more from Tony Allen, but for a different reason. It appears we won't get the production from Rondo that we got in the CAVS series. Jameer Nelson is too strong for him even though the edge in quickness goes to Rajon. I can see Tony having to guard Nelson at certain extended stretches during games. My gut feeling is the Magic will not shoot as poorly from beyond the arc as they did in game one unless the C's defense makes a concerted effort to run their shooters off the line. This could be dangerous since their shooters: Lewis, Pietrus, CArter, and Nelson can drive on the defender if played too tightly. Heck even the ol' Dukie Reddick put it on the deck a time or 2 yesterday. It won't be long before things get more than chippy between Howard and the Celtic Bigs. Dwight looks like he's already had a belly full especially when he and 'Sheed got tangled up in the lane. C's can't afford to relax on Gortat. He gives Orlando high energy off the bench and would be a starter on most teams. Especially important for the C's to box out and limit Orlando's second shot attempts. This is basic against all teams, but particularly against Orlando's younger longer front line. The Celts should stay motivated with the memory of losing in Boston in the 7th game last year to the Magic. If the C's are going to try to match points in the paint with the Magic, it's really important for Perk to put a body on Howard and make him go over Perk ti try to block shots. Getting through the Cleveland series should have given the Celts a rebirth of sorts. Make the most of this opportunity to get to THE Finals. Go Celtics!-MD!

I do not think you need to worry about Rondo.

He had "lesser" games against the Cavs too. His role is to run the team anyway, not dominate the box score. Whoever has the open shot/the hot hand will take the shot.

Hi,
Speaking about 3-pt shooting on Orl side. I think you have to give a lot of credit to the excellent rotation/coverage by guys in green: they limited the number of open shots and those that they did allow were made in a hurry under a lot of pressure. I wouldn't be surprised if we found that Doc spent hours watching last year finals and taking pages from PJ's book.
As for RR, he had a very balanced game. He was great on defense. On offense, he saw that PP came back to life and gave him ball in many more cases than in 2 previous series.

AK

sinus

The Celts figured out that high pick and started shading the shooter into the waiting bigs...the help was beautiful. PP was killing it!

MDCelticsFan wrote:It appears we won't get the production from Rondo that we got in the CAVS series. Jameer Nelson is too strong for him even though the edge in quickness goes to Rajon.

Not buying this at all. Rajon will have several big games in this series - and it makes no difference how strong Nelson is. He is slow, he is a ball hog, and we dont need Rondo to dominate in the scoring column...we need him to run the team and facilitate...unlike the Magic who need Nelson to score big points or they cant win.

Rajon need to chip in 15 points -12 to 15 assists - 6 to 10 rebounds a game and the Celtics close this team out easily.

MD and Sinus,

I pretty much agree with what you guys are saying. Jameer is tougher than the point guards Rondo has played against in the first two series, but that's how it usually gets in the playoffs. The exception would be if we make it to the Finals and face the Lakers, who have the worst starting point guard in the league. Even then, I expect to see Kobe on Rondo and Fisher on Ray Allen.

The Orlando 3pters will heat up. Count on it. My interest is seeing just how hot they will get. Thanks to Perk and Sheed (GO SHEED!) we present a different problem for the Magic than almost any other team in the league. We can play Howard straight up. If we do that AND play good perimeter defense, their 3pters will be more like most teams and not the dead-eye killers other teams see. They won't be getting as many wide-open shots because we won't be leaving them to double-team Howard.

Sinus was right about our defensive rotation. Our perimeter defense kept Jameer and Redick at bay for most of the game. Jameer dropped in 6 points at the start of the 3rd quarter, all from outside, and he had that putback on the missed free throw at the end. There's 8 of his 20. He only had a few other shots from the paint area. If we keep them out and moving, they're less effective. They are a great spot-up shooting team but, other than Carter, don't shoot as well moving outside the paint.

MrKleen, I'm going to wait to see about Jameer. He only had a pathetic two assists yesterday, but I'll reserve judgment to see if that was because he saw nobody else was hitting so he decided he'd step up and start shooting. If we see another game like yesterday's from Jameer, you're right (or the rest of the team still can't throw the ball in the Atlantic).

bob

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agree with mrkleen that RR's play (and especially assists, plus solid D) will be a key to the C's winning against Orl. PP started to hit and immediately RR started to distribute to him more than he had been. he'll do that with whoever has the touch on any given day.
and as we all saw, Jameer cannot stay in front of him when he cuts and drives ...

(as an old Dukie myself, i confess i like to see Redick play well.
just not TOO well! we do have to run him and the other bombers off the arc.)

Michael

To: bigpygme: If you are a Duke Grad, you are to be commended, you have a degree with prestige!-MD. (Just don't bring that mess to College Park)-LOL-MD!

I like the way ORL was trying to squeeze anything positive out of last night's game. Saying once they figured things out half way thru the fourth that they got back into what they did best. I'm going to say this once and only once. I can assure you, on Tuesday when the Celtics again go up by 20, it will continue to 30. We had a game exactly like this against CLE where we had a big lead and then took the foot off the gas and managed to win with their best shot. Game 2 was it?

What did Mike Van Gundy call their comeback? Ah yes, Fools Gold. Here's what's going to happen in Game 2. If the Celtics should lose, then there is no real improvement over the last series. The only way they will show lessons learned from the last round is to stump them again on Tuesday. How is ORL going to change anything? We have ratted them out for the frauds that they are. Guard the 3's and hack Howard. We'll exchange 1 for 2 all night long. We'll have to pick up the "3D" even more. Rondo was getting tossed around even though he was fighting through all the picks up top. Are they going to start guarding Ray more or Paul more. Please, keep playing Wac-a-Mole like CLE did and you will be watching the finals from the comforts of your own living room.

Once again, we are dealing with another team that feels entitled. The Celtics gave them their least gut-wrenching loss. This was just a slap in the face. Actually, coming back from down 20 to down 2 and losing by 4 can be pretty disheartening. Not even a wake up call. But what's going to happen Tuesday will rip their hearts out. That 20 poiont lead felt more like 40 to ORL. But trying to comeback from down 30-35 will blow a Stan Van microchip. Hell, we didn't even get Howard in any foul trouble. ORL, this game and your chance to win it will be the easiest you will see.

Our only weakness at this point is laying the proverbial egg where no one shows up. Except for the CLE blowout which just turned out to be an anomaly, I haven't seen this as an issue since the playoffs started. I hope ORL has that wish in their game plan because there is no other way to beat us. Good Luck. Still Celtics in 5. Maybe BroomLand.

My take on this game is that the Celtics built up a huge lead due to aggressiveness—more on the defensive end than the offensive end. They were able to keep up that aggressiveness until they started to run out of "big" fouls to use. Then they couldn't be as aggressive on defense, which coincides with when the Magic made their run.

If there's any truth to this theory, it places a premium on how the Celts' big men use their fouls. They rationed them quite well in Game One, especially in avoiding "touch" fouls that would have given the Magic "and ones" like Cleveland got a lot of. (It drives me crazy when Perk or Sheed feels it's essential to tap a guy when the guy is obviously past him.)

I don't expect the foul rationing will go quite so perfectly throughout the entire series. Which may be a reason why we could see Shelden and his six fouls inserted in some points.

Sam

like the analysis, Sam - had missed the fine point that our fouls adding up coincided with their run.

wouldn't mind seeing some (not too much) Shelden in there. maybe he can step on Redick's toes as he drives, Dukie to Dukie ... no harm no foul.

Michael