POST GAME ORLANDO

Great game by Celtics defense. Howard only had 2 pts second half!

More important our prayers go out to MD.......God another injury.....hope it is not serious. He definitely had an MRI done on C-Spine. Usually 30 minutes so we should get results shortly!!!!!!


112288

Hope and pray Daniels make a full recovery. That was a real freak injury.

Rajon Rondo put his stamp on this game, repeatedly driving to the rim and also knocking down somne shots from the outside and the foul line.

Howard had his way in the first half but Boston made some nice defensive adjustments in the second half. Once they were able to limit his opportunities the Celtics were able to put some distance between them and the Magic. Overall the Celtics played excellent 'TEAM' defense in holding the Magic to 34.4% shooting and only 3-24 from behind the arc.

Perkins grabbed 13 boards but went scorelss 0-5. He has lost some lift and it shows more on the offensive side of the ball.

Th Magic were 16-9 before the trade and are 16-11 after including a stretch where they won 9 straight

In my opinion they are not as good as they were prior to th trade and will struggle to denfend and score the basketball.

For the Celtics, Glen Davis played well off the bench 11 and 6 with 2 steals in 24 minutes and was a factor in the 4th quarter. PP had 18 and 5 assists, KG scored 16 with 9 rebounds and Ray Allen continued his assault on the 3 pt made record going 2-4 from behind the arc.

Looking ahead, Daniels is expected to miss 2 months and we almost have to write him off for the remainder of the season. This is a similar injury that he has had before ecept it is more serious this time.

I expect to see Von Wafer get more minutes in Daniel's absence. Von has slowly become a player that I am rooting for. He is a prety good defender and has more overall althleticism than Daniels.

The Celtics continue to get it done despite injurioes sustained up and down the roster. So far the depth on this team has made it possible to win.

dboss

dboss,

I heard a month from the team doctor. But maybe that's being too hopeful. At least the Celtics refuse to push guys back. This is a real shame because Quis has been a real iron man, only missing one game for personal reasons. I hope those reasons don't still exist or this injury will just be a double whammy for him.

As for the effect on the team, I have felt that the last one-third of the season would be primarily devoted to getting the bench in synch. That strategy now takes somewhat of a hit. But first things first. Get better, Quis.

Here's a quote from the Orlando Magic message board:

"The problems we have had against Boston, Miami, LA need to be minimized or we will continue to struggle against them."

I am so glad to be part of such a knowledgeable board.

Sam

Avery Bradley re-joins the varsity.

Hi,
Good win. Thank you.
What a freak accident. I hope MD recovers quickly.
I don't know if they're going to get AB back from D-League and how much LH's going to be involve. But PP and RA are going to log major minutes.
No luck for the green team. Hopefully they'll get it in the playoffs.

AK

We need a defensive person off the bench to shut down a player or two come crunch time. If I was Danny I would make a trade for Tony Allen. $3M this year, $3.15M next and $3.3M year after. He's been shopped around and been named in several trade rumors this year. He knows the system and would be an easy fit.

MD even if he comes back....you just don't know. Even if he does...we then would have 2 great defensive players to throw out on the court.

112288

112288 wrote:We need a defensive person off the bench to shut down a player or two come crunch time. 112288

This is the key point regarding Daniels being out. We now need someone off the bench who can defend at the 3. Bradley is no help in this aspect of the game (although he has some potential defending the 1 or 2). Delonte coming back gets even more critical since he has shown he can defend 3 positions. West does give away some length in matchups against most 3's, but he's as skilled a defender as we will have left off the bench at that spot.

A slowish start, but solid 3 quarters after that. The 3rd quarter in particular was one of the best quarters of the year so far. Great defense on Howard and our offense shot 9-14 in that quarter. Our starters logged heavier minutes than usual. The loss of Q no doubt had something to do with that. That is of longterm concern to me.

1. Now that Lewis and Gortat are gone to bolster their frontline, if they're not hitting 3s, they're done and their shooting was crap. Turk, JJ, JRich and Arenas were a combined 8-38 from the field and 2-15 from 3.

2. Obviously, we all wish the best for Q. Between thumbs and concussions and spinal injuries, he is a walking hard hat zone. Von Wafer will get minutes, and he has deserved more, but he's still only 6'4" and we need a backup for Pierce at SF. 6'4" isn't big enough for that. I don't see how bringing back Bradley fixes that either.

3. Remember when Jameer Nelson was being mentioned as a competitor to Rondo as a potential all-star? Whatever happened to him? He never came back from that injury.

4. Rondo was great, but he had 6 turnovers. I've noticed his turnover counts have been much higher in recent weeks and that's not good. Still, 26 points is nothing to sneeze at and he was 7-9 from the line and that makes me VERY happy. Remember when Orlando beat us in the playoffs 2 years ago, when we were without KG and Powe? Remember how bad our perimeter defense was, how Nelson was able to turn the corner on picks at will and force Perk to leave Howard to defend the penetration and bad things kept happening to us? Well, one reason why Rondo was scoring like we rarely see him do is that Orlando's perimeter defense was completely porous. D12 wasn't actually sealing the corner on the pick, he just made an appearance there and Rondo ran right around him and into the paint.

5. Erden had more blocks than D12. Write this day down, I don't think you'll see that again. Howard had a great first half, which is easy to do when the refs let him bounce a 290# Davis backwards with his shoulder repeatedly, but was a no show in the second. As we've seen before, when Howard gets frustrated, he turns mean. Did you see the way he threw Perk down? Anybody else does that, and it's a flagrant foul. He shot 8-10 from the line today. That's really good. Too bad he shot 3-13 against Miami in a game they lost by only 4. Great second half defense by Perk. A happy, smiling Howard is a dangerous Howard. When Howard isn't smiling, that's good for us. He didn't smile in the 2nd half and Perk deserves a lot of the credit for that. Perk did what Perk does. He got 13 rebounds and shut down the other team's inside offense.

6. Earl Clark thought he could defend Pierce. Earl Clark probably also thinks he can fly. Lack of adequate talent made him thuggish instead and he let Pierce get into his head. A T and a couple of fouls later and we were up by a healthy margin in the 3rd.

7. Did you see that special about the "science" of Ray Allen's shots? I loved it. Anything that highlights just how great he is works for me.

Let's blitz Charlotte tomorrow early, so the starters can rest, and then get ready for LA on Thursday.

bob

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NY,

Yes we need someone at the 3 off the bench. Problem is West the is taken out of the point guard position and you then have Nat playing point which we know he is better without the ball. Tough situation.

112288

A thought also left on the Other Sports thread...

And the Packers do it...

showing that a team loaded with injuries to starters and backups alike can still bring home the hardware.

Any other team in green take note of this?

112288,

Yeah, that's true; Nate isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread at the point. Sticky situation alright.

Regards

NYCelt wrote:112288,

Yeah, that's true; Nate isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread at the point. Sticky situation alright.

Regards

30+ years ago, I went over to a friend's house in Beverly and he had some friends visiting him from France. It was their first time in the US. Their english was ok and my french is more than adequate, so we got along fine. At some point, I remarked how something was "the greatest thing since sliced bread". They looked at me like I was a calf with two heads.

I forgot they didn't have sliced bread in France. Their breads are sold in loaves of baguettes, are often artisan in nature and are produced in small bakeries around town and not by high-volume commercial bakeries cranking out the lowest common denominator for the family on the go.

Sorry, you just reminded me of that with that metaphor.

bob

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Bob,

Now I'm thinking maybe I'll have a sandwich for lunch...

I think Wafer gets the BU minutes behind PP and he is actually 6'5" not 6' 4" per nba.com. That is one inch shorter than Daniels but Von is a very good defender and his quickness can make up for a lack of height.

I think Boston will be ok and if the othr team has a bigger 3 on the court we can use Harangoody and even Davis can give us some minutes at the three.

But I think the main guy will be Von Wafer.

Not to worry..

dboss