Post Game Thread - Celtics dominate Magic in Game 3 (94-71) 5/22/2010

[dboss]

If we were worried about any let up in game 3 our concerns were put to rest last night as the Boston Celtics beat the Magic to a pulp.

This game was over midway through the 1st quarter once the Magic realized that the Celtics had come to play at a high level. It seems that a team's ability to perform the physical acts of playing basketball are realy controlled by their state of mind and it is clear that the Magic do not have the mental toughness needed to compete at this high level and against a team that is ready and willing to play hard every game. Basically they just gave up.

When a team plays this badly there should be some sort of a mercy rule where the coach can throw in the towel and save his team the embarassment of having their collective asses kicked for 48 minutes on the big stage... on national TV.

There is still one more game to be played but that is just a formality. Boston just will not let them play the way that they like. They held the magic to 8-30 from behuind the arc and dominated them in the paint 34-22. Superman needs to go on vacation with Lois Lane to get some lovin because he gets no love here. Lewis has been a no show and nothing the Magic try to do is working. The Celtics are simply the better team and are proving it on the court.

There are a lot of great plays to recall but none more spectacular than the Rajon Rondo's play diving for the ball, bouncing back to his feet faking and cross over dribble for an easy layup. That play will be replayed in my mind 1000 times. I am convinced that Rondo is not from this planet. Last night Magic Johnson said "Rajon Rondo is the best all around point guard in the NBA, bar none." This coming from a former Laker and one of the greatest PG's ever to play should silence all the anti-Rondo haters out there.

The Celtics have so many weapons that you never know who is going o carry the team. Last night it was baby's turn. He scored 17 points. That in and of itself is amazing. The Celtics creamed the magic yet the high scorer only had 17. This tells us that the whuppin was absolute from top to bottom.

I hate to talk about sweeps but that is where this team is heading. No need to play another game at Amway. Time to finish this one up tomorrow night and start preparing to take the championship trophy back from LA

dboss

[cowens/oldschool]

As lousy as the Magic have played,lets give our epic D all the credit,they're the real story,we took everything,I mean everything away,this defense just swarms and beats you to a pulp,controlled fury.Any spot you can go to were there with length Perk,KG,Sheed,we can pound you with Perk and Baby,we got blurs Rondo and TA,and Pierce and Ray can defend alittle too.Bring on LA,I can't wait.

[bobheckler]

It is truly awe-inspiring to watch our team's execution on both sides of the court yesterday. Our offense is efficient and our defensive rotations have been swift. Considering the HUGE improvement in Rondo and modest improvement in Perk, I'd be interested in hearing comments about whether this team is better than 2008. In fact, I think I'll start a thread about that as soon as I'm done with this. We now own the second best consecutive playoff game win streak in franchise history, with 6 straight wins (the 1986 team had 7 straight). Considering our franchise's magnificent history, including our total domination of the NBA for over a decade, that's pretty freaking amazing. Of course, I don't think the playoffs back in the '60s went anywhere near as long as these...

1. Dboss is right. Rondo's not from this planet. His fg% was off yesterday (4-14), but he's shooting 48% for the playoffs. Hell, he's even shooting 70% from the line! Dboss, you won't have to replay that diving play by Rondo over and over in your head, they'll be replaying it on Sportscenter for a long time and will be one of the highlight clips at his HOF induction. He had 12 assists and only 1 turnover!! Jameer Nelson played almost as many minutes, had almost the same fg% (5-14 instead of 4-14) but only had 1 assist. There was some question as to whether Rondo or Nelson should fill out the all-star roster 2 years ago (then Nelson got injured). I think we can put that speculation to bed now. I loved seeing Rondo waving his teammates over for an on-court huddle. He has really turned into a floor general par excellence and 3 future HOFers who still got game are following his lead.

2. Now that he doesn't have to guard LeBron, Pierce feels liberated. He has his shooting rhythm back and has set the offensive tone early in the past two games. He has been a board monster too. He got a couple of tough, traffic rebounds yesterday. He's really playing hard on both ends.

3. I thought Nate ran the team pretty well for the 4 1/2 minutes or so he was out there. Made a couple of passes that should have been assists (open shots, good looks that just missed) and did a decent job of defense. He slowed down a potential fastbreak once. I wanted Doc to sit the starters down earlier and was screaming for him to put in Quis and Nate much earlier in the 4th quarter.

4. How does Rasheed do this? How can he be a green eyesore with a bald spot for an entire season and then just awake from his coma and become and outstanding backup center in the playoffs?

5. Tony Allen has done exceptionally well for us this post-season. He's back, and then some. His offense is aggressive and so is his defense. I couldn't believe the way he frustrated LeBron and drove DWade crazy. But his ball handling skills have not taken the same step up. I did not like the team where Tony played point. Our offense, which was doing really well, ground to an awkward halt. I don't know what Doc's problem is with Quis and Nate, they both looked pretty good in garbage time, but I think he needs one of them on the floor when Rondo is out to run the offense and let Tony do what Tony does best, slash.

6. 23 assists on 34 fgm=68%. That's what we like. Sure is a lot better than Orlando's 10 assists on 24 fgm (42%)! By comparison the Lakers, who have been running offensive clinics against teams that don't play defense (OKC, not their thing; Jazz were without their starting center and SF; and Phoenix can't even spell defense) is only averaging 55% for the playoffs. The Celtics playoff average (not just this game) is 63%.

7. Normally, if you told me that Glen Davis, playing 27 minutes, was the Celtics high scorer with 17 points, I'd say we got obliterated but we had five other players in double digits. Total balance in our offense.

8. There was speculation that Rashard Lewis' diminished play in the first two games was due to him battling the flu. Must be full-blown double pneumonia, because he's still AWOL. That's ok, Rashard. one more game and you can rest comfortably in bed until next year.

9. Perk is doing the same thing with Howard that he did with Jermaine O'Neal. He is making him get the ball further away from the basket than he wants and is taking shots further away than he should be. Great defense by Perk is killing one of the best offensive weapons the Magic has. A lot of people make a big deal about his hands and feet, understandably so, but negating the other team's post game is pretty damn important too.

10. After previous playoff wins, ESPN's blurb always started with "Celtics survive Cleveland rally" and "Celtics hang on to beat Magic", which disrespects our efforts by effectively ignoring the fact that we were dominating throughout the game. Today, ESPN's blurb says "Celtics embarrass Magic to command 3-0 lead". They're finally getting it right. We're not lucky, we're good. Where they still need to wake up to is that it's not that LeBron/Cleveland and Howard/Magic were/are imploding, it's that we are making them implode.


3 down, 5 to go.


bob

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