PLAYOFFS 2011 POST GAME NEW YORK GAME 4

BOSTON 101 NEW YORK 89

Got my broom out to do a little spring clearing......SWEEP...SWEEP!!!!!!!

Second team second period played outstanding.......kudo's to kristic I hope this made his confidence level rise........but Doc why did't you put him in at the beginning of the fourth...you went small and so did your lead......you have not played well once when using Baby at center and Green as power forward....give it up Doc!!!

Nice game by Green as well.....HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!!!!!!

GAME STATS

CELTICS


FGM-A 40-81 49.4%
3PM-A 3-12 25.0%
FTM-A 18-24 75.0%
OREB 9
DREB 44
REB 53
AST 24
STL 6
BLK 6
TO 15
PF 23
PTS 101

Fast break points: 12
Points in the paint: 38
Team TO ( points off ): 18 (15) +/- denotes team's net points while the player is on the court.


NEW YORK

FGM-A 30-88 34.1%
3PM-A 8-27 29.6%
FTM-A 21-28 75.0 %
OREB 13
DREB 29
REB 42
AST 19
STL 4
BLK 6
TO 14
PF 25
PTS 89

Fast break points: 15
Points in the paint: 34
Team TO ( points off ): 14 (10) +/- denotes team's net points while the player is on the court.

112288

I posted this on the game on thread already and wanted to re-post my congrats here.

Congrats to the Celtics and the Celtics' fans for being the first team out of the east to advance to the next round. Now, get a few days rest while the Heatles finish up with the sixers, and then please beat them down.

Enjoy......MG

Congrats guys i only saw about 40% of the game but it seems like we stood tall. Congrats to everyone!

This is great, this will give the Celtics 7 days of rest until next Sunday in Miami. The reason why Paul and Ray Ray were so hot in shooting. They had 6 days rest and allowed their legs to get the proper vertical height in their jump shot and the rest as they say is history. Hope Philly can give them one more good game and extend the series another game.

Sorry Mustang did not see your post first...guess I was still putting mine together.

112288

Nice close out game on the road.

The extra rest will be great!

dboss

Hi,
Gongrats, Celtics! Now on to South Beach.
3 good things happened during the game: the W that gives them a week, the second unit showed some sparks and, Doc didn't strangled any of his players. Speaking of which, WTF? Didn't they know that by NBA rules duration of the game is 48 min not 36?
But, as they say, all's well that ends well. Everybody who played chipped in. NK and BBD came alive, JG showed signs of confidence. I hope this week gives opportunity to practice and get prepared for much much tougher opponent.

AK

Obviously closing out is great.

Miami has to go at least one more game. Lots could happen, injury fight suspension ? Who knows?

Regardless we will get our rest............goal

STEAL one in south beach..........maybe steal 2

beat

The Knicks gave about as good an effort as possible considering their circumstances. To the Celtics credit the team played up to potential and didn't get caught playing down to the level of competition. Rondo came out of his funk and for the most part pushed the ball up tempo style.Baby had an excellent first half. Heat couldn't close out the Sixers, though it's just a matter of time. However, it would be good to see them extended as much as possible. 10-0 run by the Sixers can't sit well in South Beach. I heard on a Chicago talk show last night that Rose is in a walking boot until the next game with the Pacers. I really felt for Larry, every time the camera was zooming in on him, he was bitting his nails like they were hot wings! Hope Shaq is back by next Sunday!

MD.

NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks challenged Rajon Rondo all series long without saying a word, the gigantic gaps between the All-Star point guard and his defender speaking volumes. That should have been enough.

But at a time of year when most coaches remind their players to avoid even the slightest bit of talk that could be construed as bulletin-board material, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni took a subtle and head-scratching swing at the one player his team had no answer for during their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Boston Celtics.

Before Sunday's Game 4, D'Antoni wondered out loud if Rondo would be as successful with a lesser supporting cast. Yes, this is the same Rondo who was coming off a triple-double in which he handed out a Celtics postseason-record 20 assists in Friday's Game 3 triumph that put New York's back against the wall.

"I'd like to see him play in Minnesota and see how he does," D'Antoni said.

"Everybody's tied together and they have three Hall of Famers playing out there. Rondo is a very good basketball player -- really good. But if you look at their team and you have to say, 'What can we take away? What do we have to give them and play the odds?' You have to give him his shot and you have to try to close up the middle on him and that's kind of how we did it. We think that's the best way to go."

Whether D'Antoni's comments made their way to the Boston locker room is irrelevant (though it's hard to imagine they didn't land on someone's smart phone during the 90 minutes before tipoff). Rondo has been otherworldly at times in this series and didn't need any more motivation.

On Sunday, Rondo scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting with 12 assists as Boston swept the Knicks out of the postseason with a 101-89 triumph at Madison Square Garden.

Appearing before the media alongside captain Paul Pierce after the game, Rondo was asked about D'Antoni's comments. Pierce spoke up immediately saying he wasn't going to answer the question, suggesting Rondo had done so with his play. Tackling the question would justify the remarks.

Rondo simply shrugged and said, "Everybody's got an opinion."

True, but rarely is one voiced by the head coach of a playoff opponent in front of a media throng thirsty for a storyline during an otherwise snooze-worthy pregame session. Unless D'Antoni's plan was to try to get into Rondo's head, figuring that might be the one way to slow him, the comments were rather baffling. Regardless of whether that's truly what D'Antoni believes, it was an odd time to voice it.

After all, this was Rondo, the guy who aided Boston's late-game rally in Game 1 with what may have been the series' biggest play: An inbounds lob to Kevin Garnett that helped the Celtics claw back from three points down in the final minute.

In Game 2, Rondo poured in a career postseason-high 30 points, 22 of which came at the rim, absolutely dissecting the Knicks in transition.

Then came the triple-double, which wasn't your Garden variety triple-double (if such a thing exists). Rondo spent the night feeding Pierce and Ray Allen, who combined for 70 points while blistering the field (particularly beyond the 3-point arc).

Rondo also chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was just the fifth triple-double by a visiting player at MSG during a postseason game, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (April 13, 1970), Dennis Johnson (May 6, 1988) and Michael Jordan twice (May 9, 1989 and June 2, 1993).

What's more, Elias noted that there had been nine triple-doubles over the last three playoffs seasons. Rondo is responsible for six of them, with the other three produced by LeBron James.

That puts Rondo in elite company, as the only other players with more career postseason triple-doubles are Magic Johnson (30), Jason Kidd (11), Larry Bird (11), Wilt Chamberlain (9) and Oscar Robertson (. Few ever questioned whether those players could succeed on bad teams.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers admits it's a bit of a double-edged sword for Rondo, running with Hall of Fame company.

"You play with those guys, that's probably what you're going to get," Rivers said. "I don't think he would trade it. I think he enjoys playing with them. If there is a negative side, I guess that would be it. No matter how well you play, the question will be [how much the supporting cast helped]. Some day, that will be answered too. I've got a feeling he'll answer them all in the way he's answering them now."

The Knicks did their best to limit Rondo's ability to get to the rim Sunday. He responded by making 4-of-5 layups. They sat back and challenged him to shoot jumpers and he responded by making 5-of-7 jump shots.

After New York rallied from 23 down to make it a two-possession game, the Knicks were staring at a six-point deficit with less than five minutes to play. They sagged and again challenged Rondo, who stepped up and canned a 13-foot jumper with 4:48 to go to push the lead back to eight. Next trip down, he fed Garnett for a 16-foot jumper and a double-digit lead.

"When [Rondo] plays with that type of energy, we are almost unstoppable," Pierce said.

Glen Davis echoed those sentiments, pointing to Rondo's emerging jumper.

"That's huge for us, because guys are going to not respect Rondo as far as his jump-shot ability," Davis said. "But now when you go through a series and when you go through the playoffs and you see that, you can't just leave him wide open. You have to contest that. It's hard to deal with our team because Rondo is just so electric. He's just everywhere. He can make things happen from every aspect of the floor."

Does it surprise Davis that teams still challenge Rondo?

"Well, somebody's going to learn, you know?" he said. "Point blank."

The Knicks learned. Their coach learned. Maybe it's not the best idea to challenge the spunky 25-year-old point guard with a permanent chip on his shoulder.

All Rondo did this series was average 19 points while shooting 50 percent from the floor, and dish out 12 assists per game, which led to an average of 27.5 points per contest, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

"He's tough to guard and you've seen that all throughout this series," Celtics reserve Jeff Green said. "And when he's going strong, we go."

Ah yes, the now-familiar adage: "As goes Rondo, so go the Celtics." Mind you, that expression ignores all of the Big Three, but focuses on the player whom more and more observers are putting in their company as the "big four."

Players and coaches around the league are learning Boston's success is directly tied to the play of its point guard. And instead of wondering how good he'd be on another team, maybe coaches should spend their time trying to figure out how to slow him down.

Chris Forsberg covers the Celtics for ESPNBoston.com.http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/columns/story?columnist=forsberg_chris&id=6422808

Mrkleen,

Throughout the series, D'Antoni did everything he could to disrupt the team concept of the Celtics. In the first two games, he forced several Celtics out of their normal roles. In the third game, I gather that the Celtics reassumed those roles and played almost THE perfect game. So, prior to Game 4, D'Antoni changed his tactic and tried to sow seeds of individualism in the catalyst of the Celtics.

That's the only reason I can think of for his comment. The only plausible alternative is that he just has ass breath in his minuscule coaching lungs because he'll never understand the team concept.

Sinus, I'm not quite sure what your gripe is about the 48 minute thing. I believe it's been more than eight consecutive quarters since the Celtics trailed by any quasi-significant amount in a game. I call that pretty consistent. The NBA is a league of ebbs and flows and runs. Heck, even the Russell Celtics didn't win every every quarter they played.

Now for the trivia portion of the show. Name the three leading Celtics in terms of rebounds per minute in the playoffs. And please don't give me that "small sample" stuff. It's a complete census of the universe of playoff games they have played to date. Or, if that explanation doesn't make any sense, think of it as a sample of lots of minutes.

Give up? Here they are in order:

#1 Krstic
#2 KG
#3 Green

Seems to me that, bit by bit, the components of the bench are finding their individual strengths that most benefit the team.

IF the team will really be off for a week, I don't look at that as rest time, which I think is completely overblown. I look at it as 50% rest time and 50% practice time. And it's entirely possible that the bench, practicing together against the starters, will begin to parley those improving individual skills into at least a reasonable facsimile of improved chemistry.

That's when I expect Delonte to shine a bit more, because I believe he plays best when his teammates play as a reasonably coordinated unit.

Moreover, all a good uptempo attack requires is a couple of good rebounders and three guys who will run the court and fill the lanes (one of them being a distributor). And the more the bench can maintain an uptempo game, the less they'll have to rely on the intricacy of a halfcourt game. And the more Glen Davis can resume his attack on the hoop, the better even their halfcourt game will become as a safety valve.

It'll never all happen as perfectly as I might seem to be intimating, but it doesn't have to be perfect to be a strong complement to a rather extraordinary starting unit.

By the way, how did Shaq look in yesterday's game? The box score I saw inadvertently omitted his line. I maintain that, if JO can stay healthy, I'm satisfied that they'll perform better than they would with Shaq in the lineup...even against Dwight Howard, after the Magic win three consecutive games against Atlanta and then move through the Bulls (hey heh heh).

This was a fun post. As my wife would say, my tongue was firmly ensconced in all of my cheeks. And to think that, just 24 hours ago (true story), we had three Paris EMTs in here because I was hypoglycemic and was doing strange things like attempting to dunk the chambermaid into the bidet. They gave me some fruit juice, which solved the problem and cut their visit so short that we played a few hands of poker so they could put in for overtime. Went out for a hearty meal and arrived back at the hotel in time to watch the Celts close out the KnickerFokkers.

Go Celtics.

Sam

Rondo is now becoming a problem to the rest of the playoff teams. A huge problem.

When his jumper is going in, it's not just rolling around by accident and finally falling through. When RR shoots and makes his mid-range jumper, the net doesn't even ripple. He's been watching and learning from RA on where to release the ball at the maximum point. Actually, and I'll have to check this in slo-mo, but RA snaps his wrist at the peak of his jump, but the ball rolls off his fingers just as he's coming down. Every time he does it I think he's going to get called for an up and down (because the ball is not out of his hands and he's coming down,) or travelling as us old schoolers call it. He's never that close, but it just seems that way.

RR is doing the same thing, jumping, peaking, snapping wrist and releasing off his fingertips just every so slightly on the way down.

Backing off RR on D gives him a better view of the court and where his players are. Defenses can collapse on him down the lane, but if it's anything like the NYK's with Amare and Turiaf "in the lane" the highway for that series will become a super-highway for RR with MIA's severe lack of talent in the lane. LeBron is going to be too far out to do his block from behind move. Throw Shaq in there to re-direct any traffic with just his size and this one could become a laugher.

You can't pick him up full court because he will blow by you. So what do you do about Rondo now that he seems to have the pedal to the metal? I don't know, but I'm just glad he's on our team!!

Sam,
My "48 minutes gripe" is this. Yes, you're right about ebbs and flows, but when 20+ point lead (second half of the 3rd quarter) goes down to 4 and the team can't score a FG for 7 minutes it's something else. Also, you should've seen Doc during one of the timeouts he had to take.
I had no doubts of the outcome of the series, especially after the game 3. But since I take one game at a time why did they give me heart attack inducing treatment

AK

I got a notion the Celtics got a tad tired of all the glowing hype/press the Knicks were getting because of playing two "close" games in Boston.

ANd the knicks got it all taken outta they're hide.

JEb

Sinus,

I understand what you're saying, but that's why God invented 20-point leads.

Yes, it can look bad and be heart attack fodder when the lead is whittled down. But, too often, a very key fact is overlooked. That fact is the enormous amount of energy the comeback team has had to exert in narrowing the lead.

If the game were in the first quarter, with both teams relatively fresh, a four-point cushion would be meaningless. But, if the "comeback" team's energy supply has been exhausted in making the comeback, usually (not always, but usually) the momentum will slowly shift back in the opposite direction, as the margin of the lead again begins to expand.

I'd always rather take my chances with the team that has established the big early lead. And I've had seven angioplasties, but the stress hasn't killed me yet.

Sam

Speaking of comebacks, we all know Boston came back on LAL's 24-point lead to win in LA. But I think that is the cutoff.

Has any NBA team, regualr season or playoffs, come back from 25 points down or more to win?

There have been lots of 23-point comebacks to win and everything below that. But 25 and over seems to be the event horizon.

In college b-ball, UNC came from 27 points down, maybe 29, against Kansas in the NCAA tournament a few years ago, got it down to 3-4, only to fall short and Kansas eventually won by ~18 fueling Sam's point.

Credit to the Knicks for their effort, considering the loss of their starting point guard, the ineffectiveness of their future HOF PF and their non-existent bench (due to the trade). They played the hand they were dealt the best they could with a heckuva lot less than a full deck.

1. Whatever was running through Rondo's head the past few months is gone. He is attacking relentlessly and that makes our offense go.

2. Antoni had no idea which Celtic was going to step up on any given night. It was Allen, then Rondo, then Pierce and finally KG (I think it was in that order). Antoni's comments about Rondo highlights what an idiot he is. I watched the past two games in a bar in NY and I gotta tell ya, they hate Antoni with a bright, white heat (and LOVE Doc).

3. Our bench appeared. Solid game by Davis, fluidity by Green and some aggressiveness from Krstic. I hope they carry this forward.

4. Anthony Carter earned himself a spot next year. His energy, outside shooting and fullcourt defense on Rondo turned this into a game that had no right being a game.

5. Another excellent game by JON. It's not showing up in his stats, but he is doing a great job on defensive rotations.

A week to rest. A week to see just how full of s--t they are about Shaq's imminent return. A week to implement a few new plays to screw with the Boy King, Eric Spoelstra. A week to get really, really hungry.

We're picking up speed (Thank God!) and other teams are sputtering a bit. Just the way life is supposed to work. Life is good on Celtic Planet.

bob

.

Sinus Sam

found this re the top 10 NBA playoff comebacks

http://ns1.bloguin.com/crossoverchronicles/2011-articles/april/top-10-nba-playoffs-single-game-comebacks.html

beat

Funny as we were watching the game yesterday the kids were having a bit of a hissy fit as the Knicks cut into the lead.

Told them to wait until the knicks actually have a possession in which they have a chance to tie or take the lead. If that happened I would join them in cursing the earth the TV EVERYTHING!

Well we are still waiting........................

Not a great comparison but it's sort of like a guy in NASCAR trying to chase down the leader. He's catching um but using his tires up as the laps dwindle down. And even getting within a couple car lengths, it's a whole different issue actuall passing someone.

during that Knick run we missed a couple bunnies too (in keeping with an Easter theme) had we made just 2 of them there would have been no hissy fit here.

C's appeared to coast a bit when they had the lead and you just had the feeling that when the time came to step on the Knicker(buggers) we would and we did.

Now to listen to the Knicks say they will be back next season. Yep if there is one the Knicks will be playing but just how do they think they can add any meaningful players. I wonder how many players are on their payroll now that no longer even play?

Oh well nice to see us with our feet up and watching as the other remaining 14 teams beat the collective snot out of each other. And a few select ankle tweaks, sore elbows, or hammy strains would not break my heart either.

beat

Watching 3 NBA games yesterday, I came to realize that teh team with the best PG won, Celts over the Knicks, Hawks over the Magic, and NOLA over LA. The wonder is how the Lakers can do so well with Fish at the 1.

dbrown4 wrote:Speaking of comebacks, we all know Boston came back on LAL's 24-point lead to win in LA. But I think that is the cutoff.

Has any NBA team, regualr season or playoffs, come back from 25 points down or more to win?

There have been lots of 23-point comebacks to win and everything below that. But 25 and over seems to be the event horizon.

In college b-ball, UNC came from 27 points down, maybe 29, against Kansas in the NCAA tournament a few years ago, got it down to 3-4, only to fall short and Kansas eventually won by ~18 fueling Sam's point.

There have been a bunch of 25+ point comebacks in the NBA, even some in the low 30's. the biggest comeback was from a 36 point deficit.

Here's the list:

Regular season
36 points Utah vs Denver 11/27/1996
35 points Sacramento at Chicago 12/21/2009
31 points Utah vs Chicago 02/04/1998
30 points LA Lakers vs Dallas 12/06/2002
29 points Milwaukee vs Atlanta 11/25/1977
29 points Dallas vs Minnesota 12/30/2008
27 points LA Lakers at G.State 04/20/1999
25 points Utah @ Portland 02/21/2010
25 points Portland vs N.O. 11/10/2006
25 points Boston vs Milwaukee 05/25/2002
25 points LA Lakers vs Chicago 04/03/1979
24 points Dallas at Toronto 02/25/2006
24 points Chicago vs Detroit 10/30/2010


Playoffs
29 points LA Lakers @ Seattle game 4 WCSF 1989
26 points Boston vs New Jersey 05/25/2002
24 points Boston at LA 06/13/2008
20 points Phoenix at Houston 05/11/1994

sinus007 wrote:Sam,
My "48 minutes gripe" is this. Yes, you're right about ebbs and flows, but when 20+ point lead (second half of the 3rd quarter) goes down to 4 and the team can't score a FG for 7 minutes it's something else. Also, you should've seen Doc during one of the timeouts he had to take.
I had no doubts of the outcome of the series, especially after the game 3. But since I take one game at a time why did they give me heart attack inducing treatment

AK

Unfortunately I am not as calm as the Zen Master Sam, I have to admit I was getting livid watching that lead shrink, shrinkage is never good. I thought Krstic deserved another shot in the second half, was liking how the Green-Baby-Krstic frontline was jelling, finally Krstic and Green showed some aggresiveness. Rondo set the pace and controlled the game during the building back up the lead from 4, great to see him set up KG, pressure the defense and hit his shots. When Rondo plays like this constantly pressuring the defense and slithering and finding the cracks, we are unstoppable. This team is just getting revved up and can play better.

sam wrote:Mrkleen,

Throughout the series, D'Antoni did everything he could to disrupt the team concept of the Celtics. In the first two games, he forced several Celtics out of their normal roles. In the third game, I gather that the Celtics reassumed those roles and played almost THE perfect game. So, prior to Game 4, D'Antoni changed his tactic and tried to sow seeds of individualism in the catalyst of the Celtics.

That's the only reason I can think of for his comment. The only plausible alternative is that he just has ass breath in his minuscule coaching lungs because he'll never understand the team concept.

Sinus, I'm not quite sure what your gripe is about the 48 minute thing. I believe it's been more than eight consecutive quarters since the Celtics trailed by any quasi-significant amount in a game. I call that pretty consistent. The NBA is a league of ebbs and flows and runs. Heck, even the Russell Celtics didn't win every every quarter they played.

Now for the trivia portion of the show. Name the three leading Celtics in terms of rebounds per minute in the playoffs. And please don't give me that "small sample" stuff. It's a complete census of the universe of playoff games they have played to date. Or, if that explanation doesn't make any sense, think of it as a sample of lots of minutes.

Give up? Here they are in order:

#1 Krstic
#2 KG
#3 Green

Seems to me that, bit by bit, the components of the bench are finding their individual strengths that most benefit the team.

IF the team will really be off for a week, I don't look at that as rest time, which I think is completely overblown. I look at it as 50% rest time and 50% practice time. And it's entirely possible that the bench, practicing together against the starters, will begin to parley those improving individual skills into at least a reasonable facsimile of improved chemistry.

That's when I expect Delonte to shine a bit more, because I believe he plays best when his teammates play as a reasonably coordinated unit.

Moreover, all a good uptempo attack requires is a couple of good rebounders and three guys who will run the court and fill the lanes (one of them being a distributor). And the more the bench can maintain an uptempo game, the less they'll have to rely on the intricacy of a halfcourt game. And the more Glen Davis can resume his attack on the hoop, the better even their halfcourt game will become as a safety valve.

It'll never all happen as perfectly as I might seem to be intimating, but it doesn't have to be perfect to be a strong complement to a rather extraordinary starting unit.

By the way, how did Shaq look in yesterday's game? The box score I saw inadvertently omitted his line. I maintain that, if JO can stay healthy, I'm satisfied that they'll perform better than they would with Shaq in the lineup...even against Dwight Howard, after the Magic win three consecutive games against Atlanta and then move through the Bulls (hey heh heh).

This was a fun post. As my wife would say, my tongue was firmly ensconced in all of my cheeks. And to think that, just 24 hours ago (true story), we had three Paris EMTs in here because I was hypoglycemic and was doing strange things like attempting to dunk the chambermaid into the bidet. They gave me some fruit juice, which solved the problem and cut their visit so short that we played a few hands of poker so they could put in for overtime. Went out for a hearty meal and arrived back at the hotel in time to watch the Celts close out the KnickerFokkers.

Go Celtics.

Sam

shows how misleading stats are, we know Krstic is not a good rebounder as is Green.

Cow,

You not calm? That defies imagination.

Sorry, but no Zen was involved. I'll leave that to Phil Jackson. Just experience and common sense.

Sam

What is the best fast break unit we can put on the floor?

Please consider all factors including good defense leading to steals and such, not just the fastest/most athletic unit

Good question.

My answer would be Davis, KG, Green, Delonte and Rondo.

Sam

sam wrote:Good question.

My answer would be Davis, KG, Green, Delonte and Rondo.

Sam

I would change that to KG, Green, Pierce, Delonte and Rondo. The image of Glen Davis flying down the court on a fast break doesn't really resonate with me...