POST GAME NEW JERSEY

Looked like the C's were looking to Friday's game but they woke up and had a wonderful 3rd & 4th quarter. What about BB this guy is becoming a beast, a great game off the bench! Boy did we pick Orlando's pocket.

Hey how about that kid from Providence College Marshon Brooks. He's going to be a nice little player for the Nets. I know we had to get Wilcox time to get integrated into the rotation, but I think the Stiemmer deserved more time for his effort the last game. Bradley has some nice minutes tonight and is gaining more confidence. He just may be a keeper after all or nice trade bait!

A good test to see where we are will be Friday 7:30 against Indiana.

Hey what about those Bob Cats knocking off the Knick's tonight! They have a pretty good team. So much for Melo Jello's team!

Guest what, we are in FIRST PLACE in the Atlantic Division!

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WEEI 850 AM RECAP

FAST BREAK: BRADLEY, BASS HELP CELTICS CUT DOWN NETS 01.04.12 at 9:49 pm ET
By Ben Rohrbach | No Comments



Thanks to 24 points from Paul Pierce and double-doubles from both Kevin Garnett (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Brandon Bass (15 points, 13 rebounds), the Celtics outscored the Nets 29-12 in the third quarter and dominated the shorthanded visitors 89-70 on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t all pretty for the C’s, as Providence College product Marshon Brooks‘s 15 first-half points gave the Nets a 35-34 lead after 24 sloppy minutes on both sides.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

The Truth will set you free: Celtics captain Paul Pierce submitted another remarkably efficient effort, totaling 24 points on 14 shots, six rebounds and five assists in under 30 minutes. His production helped the Celtics turn a one-point halftime deficit into a 16-point C’s advantage after three quarters.

Bass is a beast: The Cs Sixth Man once again came up big for the shorthanded Celtics, recording his second double-double of the season and his first since totaling 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Knicks on Christmas Day. Likewise, Avery Bradley turned in his best performance of the season, exerting his usual energy on defense (2 steals) and even contribution offensively (11 points).

The Nets came to town: Playing against a team that isn’t expected to compete for a playoff spot, even with its best players, the Celtics faced a New Jersey squad missing its starting point guard (Deron Williams), center (Brook Lopez) and power forward (Kris Humphries). That alone allowed Celtics coach Doc Rivers to test his bench and survive without Ray Allen and the always enjoyable flu-like symptoms.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Letting the Nets hang around: Just as they did time and time again last season, the Celtics let an inferior team hang around far too long. Sure, they put New Jersey away in the second half, but failure to execute combined with not taking opponents seriously for long stretches of games is never a good thing.

Rondo’s carelessness: Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo may have entered the game with the NBA’s second-best assist average (10.5 per game), but he also came in leading the league in turnovers per game with 4.7 a night. Wednesday night saw a few more unforced errors in his passing game, as he turned the ball over three times in the first half.

Hitting the Brooks: Rookie MarShon Brooks — who was traded by the Celtics for JaJuan Johnson on draft day — started for the Nets and finished with 15 first-half points. New Jersey often ran its offense through the Providence College product. Meanwhile, Johnson did not see the floor for the Celtics in the first half.

Hi,
One more W - great.
I have a question and one of the possible answers to it scares me: would Celtics play the same way if Nets had all their big guns available?
It looked like PP's got really pissed off after the half. Thankfully there was nobody on the Nets side who could slow him down let alone stop him. I guess Doc read them a riot act during the break.
I think Doc has to put KG through the same psychological exercise as he did with GS: My name ..... and I'm a shooter. Is KG trying to compensate for BB.
Poor MD - couldn't buy a FG.
Overall - win is a win is a win.

AK

Boy, was this an ugly, no-rhythm game! Usually, that's because the refs take over and throw everybody off. Last night there was nobody to blame but the players themselves. One thing that could have made it uglier is if we lost, but the second half ended that concern, as the Celtics finally got it together and blowtorched the severely depleted Nets. No Deron, no Humphries, no Brooks, no chance. But, to their credit, they hung in there very well in the first half, with help from the atrocious offensive shooting and high turnover rate of the Celtics (10 in the first half). In the second half we settled down, only had 3 TOs and shot better.

1. The Celtics drafted Marshon Brooks for the Nets, with the understanding that the Nets would draft JJJ and there'd be a swap. I realize our concerns over the summer was for bigs, but considering JJJ can't get off the bench (and doesn't look very good when he does) and Brooks showed great poise and dead-eye shooting last night, I can't help but wonder who got the better deal. In the second half, though, we smothered Brooks with doubleteams. If Deron was in the game, that probably would have cost us. Thoughts for the future. Nevertheless, helluva game by the rookie starting for the Nets. A gunner like that will have a long career somewhere in the NBA. That last sentence was aimed at you, E-Twaun.

2. Paul Pierce to the rescue. We had trouble putting the ball in the hoop for much of the game, but he showed why he's the captain. He was largely unstoppable. 3-5 from 3, that opened up the floor for everybody, especially...

3. Brandon Bass. Wow. I've said this before (we've all said this before, at this point) but "what a coup Danny pulled off". Where Davis was trick-or-treat Bass is money. 15 points on 7-10 shooting, 13 rebounds (tying his career high). A very dependable mid-range shot using good shot selection and an absolute beast inside. He slammed one in after driving left, which impressed Tommy. Our bench is a bit of a trick-or-treat, but Bass is all treat. "No-pass" Bass even got an assist! Can't do that without passing, right?

4. Speaking of trick-or-treat bench players, Avery Bradley is the poster boy for that. His offense is still a problem. He hit a 3 and had a couple of layups (one on a coast-to-coast fast break) but his mid-range jumper is still not dropping. His on-the-ball defense, however, was stellar. This is at least the 2nd game in a row I can say that. He is a positively "Glove-like" (so named after Gary "The Glove" Payton) pest on defense. He tormented Crawford in the Washington game and he did the same to Farmar this game. They were starting their offense just inside the logo more times than not because of Bradley's pressure. Take your eyes off him for a second, to see if your play is developing in front of you, at your peril. Oh, if only he could shoot! Statistically, he had 11 points on 4-8 shooting. That's good, but his offense came on a 3 (which I'd rather NOT see him shooting) and on layups (which are always welcome). His lack of mid-range shooting, however, doesn't help to open up the middle, and that's not good. Still, the kids showing what he's got, and that's a very high quality defense. Is it enough?

5. And now, we return to our regularly scheduled Stiemsma programming: The Steamer made some dumb mistakes which I haven't seen him do before. He picked up a really dumb foul, out on top, on a reach in. He picked up another foul, also on top, when he tried to take a charge on Farmar who was trying to come off a pick. Personally, I thought it was a bad call, I thought The Steamer had good position, but you still don't want one of your very few 5s taking fouls out there. Save them for under the basket, Greg. In 12 minutes of play (I thought he deserved more after his last game, given JON's ineffectiveness this game and the fact that the second half was a blowout) he had 5 boards and a block. Other than his dumb foul(s), a solid outing by rookie Steamer. No shots, but 5 boards in 12 minutes is what this team needs. He also sets good picks, and that has value too.

6. Rondo's ft shooting has reverted to form. NOT good. Love his 12 assists, but if he can't hit his fts then we're still vulnerable in crunch time with him on the floor handling the ball.

7. For the first 4 1/2 minutes of the 2nd quarter, we had an all-defense team on the floor with one shooter, Kevin Garnett (boy, you know you are short on offense when KG is your "shooter"). The rest of that unit was Dooling, Bradley, Q and Steamer. The score was 18-17 Celtics to start that quarter. At 7:31 left in the 2nd, the score was 26-20. In 4 1/2 minutes a total of 11 points were scored by both teams, only 3 by NJ. To be honest, I was completely perplexed by that unit, had no idea how you could do well with a "no offense" team, but 8 points in a 4 1/2 minute stretch extrapolates out to a 27 point quarter, and that's not bad, not bad at all. With only 3 points in 4 1/2 minutes, the Nets offense extrapolates out to complete crap (that's a technical term). The Celtic offense came on a KG short jumper, a Dooling layup and 4 fts from Bradley and Q. Not a very fluid offense, but effective. The defense, however, was amazing. Kudos to all the players on that unit. NJ shot 1-5 during that stretch (5 fga in 4 1/2 minutes!) with their sole points coming off a Farmar 3ptr. That's great defense. Steamer had his block during this time, Q on his man and Bradley completely blew up their halfcourt offense with his defense on Farmar. Oh, if only Bradley could shoot! At 7:31 left in the 2nd, JON came in for Steamer, Pierce came in for Q, Rondo came in for Bradley and Marshon Brooks went 4-7 including a 3.

8. I lost my link with a few minutes to go, so I didn't get to see much of Moore and JJJ. Statistically, it looks like Moore hoisted a few shots in only 6 minutes (2-3, including a 3). Good, keep it up E'Twaun. JJJ's stats show nothing. Can anybody comment on that for me?

A thoroughly disgusting offensive 34 point first half turned into a very respectable 55 points second half.

A surprisingly good Indiana Pacer (4-2) team comes to town on Friday. Now that Pierce is back (and Ray should be over his cold), that should be a nice test of who/what we are.

bob

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Bob,

To answer your question about JJJ, he received junk time with a little less then 6 minutes to go. He ran the floor but they ran no plays through him and therefore no rhythm. If Doc was smart, he would draw up plays specifically for the rookies to get a good look see how they are progressing beyond practice. I think that was happening with Bradley until he got some good playing time which them allowed him to gain rhythm in his defense which then spilled over to his offense.

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Bob,

For the most part, JJJ still seems lost out there. Moore typically looks lost for the first minute-or-so of any appearance, and then he starts looking for his shot, and then he finds his shot. It's a recurring pattern. It's virtually impossible to judge either of them on defense in garbage time because "defense" is a dirty word at that point.

Sam

Here's a quote from Bradley about last night's game:

"Sitting there on the bench, you could just tell it was kind of dead in there," Bradley said. "Sasha was like, 'If we get in, we're going to lift up the energy, we're going to do whatever we can do.' My strength is on the defensive end, so that's what I was focusing on. If I got in on defense, I was going to try to lift the energy."

Kudos to Bradley and Sasha for focusing on what the team needs and what they have to do if/when they get in there.


Here's some typical KG post-game interview...

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!

“There are no I’s. There are no You’s. It’s a We. It’s an Our. It’s a They. It’s an Us,” said Garnett. “The first thing you have to have in here is that you have to understand what you’re coming into, understand that being a Celtic is bigger than anybody in this locker room. You’re carrying on tradition. You have to have a work ethic. You have to care about the next guy beside you. If you can’t and if you don’t, then you’re not here. It’s the culture here.”

It’s that simple?

“It’s the only thing,” he added. “It’s a Doc Rivers thing. It’s a Celtics thing. It’s a Boston thing.”




bob

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For those of you who missed the game last night, here's a montage I found of Avery Bradley's game. Doc told Chris Forsberg last night that Bradley's nickname should be "The Honey Badger".

I've been down on Bradley, mostly because of his offense. His offense isn't that much better, but his defense has definitely gone up a notch or two (and it was already the best part of his game). Note how many times NJ had to start their halfcourt sets out near the logo, and with 15-16 seconds left on the shot clock because of Bradley's fullcourt pressure. Taking seconds off the other team's shot clock is a very underrated talent, by the average NBA viewer, IMO.



bob

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Bob,

Good assessment. I'm trying to make sure I give Bradley credit when he deserves it. I've been down on his unidemsionality, but perhaps he's broadening his game. And, most important, he's a Celtic!

Go Avery!

Sam

That is what Bradley should focus on for now and just take the offense as it comes.