POST GAME CHICAGO

What a weird game. No, ugly. Could have been because it’s Friday 13th! Chicago showed me nothing. We should have won this game by 10 – 15 points. First half’s are killing us. Great second half defense by the Celtics, but where is the offense. Problem, we are only playing inspired basketball for little spurts each quarter and never a complete quarter. I got to tell you this game hurt my psyche. One thing that is becoming a nagging problem, the Celtics did not execute rebounding as Doc had promised they would work on. God, does any one know how to box out underneath or the guards cut the lanes down so no one flies in for a rebound. Also sad is KG and JON they are becoming useless on the boards. To me it looks as though KG just pushes off on one leg all the time. The other leg must have no spring left. Nice jam at the end by Johnson….play the kid!
Just a side peeve, the NBA refs have degenerated to a point that it will hurt the NBA Brand. I have seen better refs working high school games, it’s a joke!

We were out rebounded, 46-33, and outscored, 24-12, in second-chance points.

WEEI - SUMMARY


FAST BREAK: CELTICS GET GORED BY BULLS
By Paul Flannery

Midway through the third quarter of what looked like another unsettling loss, the Celtics suddenly came to life. They played their defense, rotating to open players, helping the helper and in a moment that almost defied description, Jermaine O’Neal dunked from outside the paint to bring them within eight points.

The Celtics eventually cut a Bulls lead that had been 20 points to a single digit after Mickael Pietrus banged home a deep 3-pointer, bringing the sellout crowd at the Garden to its feet. But the Celtics didn’t have enough left to finish it off. Derrick Rose, however, did. The reigning MVP scored 12 of his 25 points in the final quarter as the Bulls won 88-79.

Paul Pierce played 35 minutes, Kevin Garnett logged 34, Ray Allen played 41 and Rajon Rondo played 39. There’s no rest for the aged as the Celtics travel to Indiana to play the Pacers Saturday night. Considering how much they put into trying to come back in this game, they’re probably fortunate to be up against the Pats-Broncos playoff game. It could get ugly.

WHAT WENT WRONG

– The Celtics once again got off a slow start, getting outscored 18-6 to start the game and 26-13 by the end of the first quarter. Doc Rivers tried starting Brandon Bass in place of O’Neal in an effort to matchup with the Bulls frontline of Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, but it did little to change their first quarter woes.

– The Celtics shot 5-for-20 in the first quarter and it extended into the second when they missed their first six shots. The Celtics shot 33 percent in the first half and trailed by 19 points.

– Kevin Garnett was held scoreless in the first half and had just two rebounds and three fouls. The Celtics were once again killed on the boards, giving up 24 second-chance points. The Bulls are a terrible matchup for the Celtics because of their length and athleticism up front, but the margin was overwhelming.

– Luol Deng destroyed Paul Pierce. Deng had 18 points and 16 rebounds, while Pierce shot 3-for-12 and had only one rebound. It’s going to take time for Pierce to get into game shape and without practice, he’ll have to work it out in games.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

– Rondo showed up to play. He was responsible for 15 of their first 17 points, via either assist or scoring. Rondo finished with 14 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds but when he wasn’t in the game, the Celtics offense went from cluttered to catatonic. He played over 40 minutes and had an ice-wrap on his back in the rare times when he was on the bench.

– Chris Wilcox had his first positive contributions in limited action. He followed a Rondo miss with a transition dunk and then slammed one home on the wing.

– Avery Bradley played eight minutes and contributed his usual strong on-the-ball defense. He ran the second team in Keyon Dooling’s absence without incident, which is a small step in the right direction.


112288

Hi,
Not much to add.
I'm kind of puzzled: this game was almost like a copy of Miami game - very slow start, huge deficit in 3Q and then Celtics woke up and by the mid-4Q it's only a couple points, then some mistakes (by refs and/or players) spoil the comeback. What is the matter?

RR was great. PP is still off. Oh well... another L. I wonder when they start getting Ws against good teams?

AK

[quote="sinus007"]Hi,
Not much to add.
I'm kind of puzzled: this game was almost like a copy of Miami game - very slow start, huge deficit in 3Q and then Celtics woke up and by the mid-4Q it's only a couple points, then some mistakes (by refs and/or players) spoil the comeback. What is the matter?

RR was great. PP is still off. Oh well... another L. I wonder when they start getting Ws against good teams?




At Indiana tonight. OKC on Monday. Are we really going to start the season 4-8?
Attempting three less shots per game - 72.6 - than anyone else in the league.

RR is coming into his own. You can now say this is his team, but these are not his players. If Danny keeps RR then we need to build around speed. If we get young and play a run and gun offense, no one can stop us.

112288

I didn't watch the game, so all I have are the posts here and the boxscore.

Only 11 TOs by the Celtics, so it wasn't that. Hmm. Maybe the 13 points in the first quarter? Shooting that bad at home is embarrassing.

3-12 by Pierce? Again? I ask again "why is Pierce being cut slack for missing the pre-season and early games while Pietrus is able to come in and deliver?"

Rose was unstoppable in the 4th. I saw highlights of Rondo following him around pics hoping for a reach around steal, instead of moving his feet and staying between his man and the basket, and not getting it. Instead Rose scored again and again and...

Not good.

bob

.

bobheckler wrote:I didn't watch the game, so all I have are the posts here and the boxscore.

Only 11 TOs by the Celtics, so it wasn't that. Hmm. Maybe the 13 points in the first quarter? Shooting that bad at home is embarrassing.

3-12 by Pierce? Again? I ask again "why is Pierce being cut slack for missing the pre-season and early games while Pietrus is able to come in and deliver?"

Rose was unstoppable in the 4th. I saw highlights of Rondo following him around pics hoping for a reach around steal, instead of moving his feet and staying between his man and the basket, and not getting it. Instead Rose scored again and again and...

Not good.

bob

.

Huge part of the game was Deng absolutely destroying Pierce, both offensively and defensively. And KG again invisible for the most part - if you call him a shadow of his former self, you can't even see the shadow - had 0 points and 1 rebound in the first half when this game was lost.

Yes, the Celtics are really going to start 4-8. These losses are particularly damaging since they are home losses. Everyone has noticed no lift in KG's legs. No intmiadtion factor in the lane anymore. It seems like there's a roadside motel Welcome, Vacancy sign outside the paint for the Celtic opposition. With the extra minutes logged by KG,. Pierce & Allen their contributions tonight vs. the Pacers will be suspect. Monday vs. OKC with those young legs, get out the calculator. The bench looks more inspired than the starters for the 2011-'12 edition of the Celtics. Make the bench starters and bench the starters. THAT WOULD be a wake up call. If that doesn't shake up some players, then look to the draft and Summer free agency. Garnett will be gone, and Allen, if he is kept will be playing for far less money. Pierce will still be collecting a hefty check. I would look to the draft more than free agency. This should be a deep draft, and young players are looking to prove themselves, not just to get paid!

MD!

The following post is largely comprised of one I made on the Game On thread just before the Celtics mounted their comeback. I believe that what I suggested was reinforced by the nature of the comeback.

My earlier post:

I've said this many times before, and I think it's more true than ever now. This iteration of the Boston Celtics doesn't depend on athleticism for success. It doesn't depend on toughness for success. It doesn't depend on sensational sharpshooting for success.

This iteration of the Celtics must be in rhythm to have success. The Three Amigos are mostly rhythm shooters. Their shooting percentages go down when they're called upon to wheel and deal or when they have to shoot from a fixed position. They're at their best in the shooting department when they're stepping into their jumpers, swinging the ball sharply, gaining the extra millisecond via picks, and moving toward the ball to prevent steals in the passing lanes.

Rhythm doesn't just help them score. It creates adrenalin, sharpens their reflexes, helps them get to the 50/50 balls a little faster, and therefore improves their defense. It's nice to generate offense from good defense. But the Celtics have utilized the energy born of sharp offense to hunker down and make great defensive stops.

If there's any truth to what I have said, I believe it's also true that the best way to get into a good rhythm is via transition basketball. First of all, gang bang the defensive boards. Then get the hell down the floor and into your offense before the defense is set. Borrow a football term and focus on quick hitters. Hey, you might even get an occasional—dare I mention it?—offensive board by outnumbering the opponent or at least being even with them on the offensive boards.

If it's true that this team is too old to accomplish this, I can live with that. We've had a good run, and I look forward to more in the future. However, I think the age thing is a bunch of bull dung. Their biggest problems have been in first quarters, and first quarters are where they're invariably going to be least tired.

Rondo's crashing around and doing his best to create scoring. But watch him running the floor. Usually he's got no one except trailers to pass to, and trailers are relatively easy to guard. Once in a while, a wing gets out with Rondo. But one wing's not enough, as Paul Pierce has found when he's been stuffed a few times in going to the hoop. How I long for the days when I'd see three white or green jerseys on two defenders and they wouldn't screw it up.

I'll hang in there and root for this team forever. I hope they'll return the favor.

Some additions I'm making now:

Last night's comeback fell short because the cyclical nature of NBA "runs" meant it was the Bulls' turn at the end. But what that comeback provided was what I'd call a blueprint. A design for better times ahead. And with great video evidence if the team should need it.

They maintained their aggressive defense, which hadn't been all that bad even earlier in the game. But they also gang-banged the defensive board with as many as all five Celtics at times. In transition, they pushed the ball so that Rondo had accomplices on his rushes up the floor. That gave him alternatives for driving, passing to a wing man, or kicking the ball out to the perimeter. Which made their transition game less predictable which, combined with the speed of their transitions, gave the Bulls defensive fits whereas they'd had it pretty easy up until then..

In the halfcourt, the Celtics went into their first option reasonably early in the shot clocks so that they had time for second and sometimes even third options if needed, rather than stagnating and being relegated to bailout shots at the end of the 24-second clock.

And what was the ultimate result of this upbeat, anticipatory, aggressive output of energy? THEY GOT RHYTHM. I got rhythm. You got rhythm. All God's children got rhythm. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

And the rhythm meant they were on top of their games rather than trying to find them. They got to 50/50 balls. Their defensive gambles more consistently paid off. They crashed the defensive board, which didn't just improve their rebounding performance. It also meant they ganged up on Bulls who were driving the lane. Noah must have had at least four gimme tips that the Celtics collectively bothered enough so that he missed three of them.

On offense, they swung the ball crisply. They had better player motion in the halfcourt. Their picks (which have been mainly of the brush variety all season) were more solid. They attacked the hoop aggressively. And, perhaps best of all, you could just see them feeling it when they shot. That's what rhythm can do for a team like this.

Blueprints such as what we saw in the second half are like manna from heaven. Seldom have I witnessed such an graphic antidote to basketball ineffectiveness wrapped up in a neat little tutorial.

But even the best tutorial has to be embraced and acted upon in order to have value. I will argue until I'm blue in the fact against the trite opinions that they've lost it physically or are too old or are too tired. Bullturd!!!!!!!!! That assertion just doesn't make sense to any rational person who just watched a game in which they stank the joint out in the first quarter and mounted a furious comeback in the second half.

The Celtics of the past five years have developed a habit of feeling out the opposition at the beginning of a game, making necessary adjustments, and using their plethora of resources in the second half to beat the living crap out of opponents. This is not the same team.

They can no longer afford those early feeling out processes because they're now facing increasing numbers of hungry jackrabbits who use those early openings to race out to insurmountable leads. Adjustments can go only so far, as we saw last night. The Celtics needs to be the aggressors from the getgo, either building early leads or at least holding their own in hopes that an increasingly effective bench can beat the bench of the opponents.

IF the Celtics pay attention to the lessons of last night, and IF they are prepared to become more aggressive from the outset of games, and IF they can convert the energy born of offensive and defensive aggression, and IF they can avoid major injuries to key personnel, then I have just four words for would-be ship jumpers:

SEE ME IN APRIL!

Go Celtics!

Sam