POST GAME SUNS

Enough said....we go gently into that cold New England night. At least the Knick's lost again now to Mil Bucks! Melo got tossed on 2 technical's.

RECAP WEEI 850 AM

FAST BREAK: SUNS RISE, CELTICS FALL
By Ben Rohrbach


Friday night’s Celtics game against the Suns at the Garden was a familiar story: Get off to a slow start, fall behind by double digits, make it close and fall behind again after exerting too much energy playing from behind all night.

The final result: A 79-71 Phoenix victory in Boston.

Ray Allen led the Celtics with 14 points. Paul Pierce (12), Brandon Bass (11), Kevin Garnett (10) and Avery Bradley all reached double figures, but the C’s (5-9) lost their sixth game in seven tries.

Suns center Marcin Gortat totaled 24 points (14 in the first quarter) and 12 rebounds to lead the Suns (6-9). Steve Nash added 11 points and nine assists.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Pole position: Gortat scored almost as many points in the first quarter (14) as the Celtics (15) — on just as many field goals (7) and eight fewer shots (19-11). If Jermaine O’Neal wants to be judged on his defense, let’s just say it wasn’t so good early, and the Celtics were forced to play catch-up all night once again.

Poor paint job: The Celtics simply had nobody capable of getting to the rim and scoring. Their guards weren’t deft enough to get to the hoop, and their bigs weren’t athletic enough to get their shot off cleanly. On multiple occasions, Paul Pierce worked his way into the paint, only to be contested by a quicker defender who could simply jump higher.

Rondo a no go: Let’s face it: At this point, Rondo is the Celtics offense. Without him orchestrating and finding Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on the wings or Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass for open jumpers, everything else falls apart. Even with Rondo, the Celtics offense hasn’t exactly looked pretty this season. Without him, it’s downright ugly. The Celtics succeeded in keeping their turnover total high (18), leading to 20 Phoenix points.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Canada dry: Starting in Rajon Rondo‘s place, the 21-year-old Avery Bradley managed to slow 37-year-old Steve Nash‘s pace, picking him full court on defense. Bradley’s all-out effort just about matched the Suns veteran in scoring, although Nash out-assisted him, 9-1. Regardless, Bradley was one of the best Celtics on the floor.

S’Moore: Forced to trust his young guards, Celtics coach Doc Rivers continues to get more out of E’Twaun Moore than he might have expected. Unafraid of the big moment, the C’s second-round pick took and made a big jump shot to the tie the game at 50-50 late in the third quarter. Moments later, Mickael Pietrus made an even bigger shot, a 3-pointer that gave the Celtics their first lead since 2-0.

Luck be a lady: A woman won $25,000 at halftime in front of a packed crowd (before they started leaving with two minutes left) by picking the correct envelope, a la David Stern in the 1985 NBA draft. That was the only winning going on in the Garden on Friday night.

There won't be much winning going on for the Celtics this year and for the forseeable future anywhere. A biiter pill to swallow in any case. Why doesn't Jermaine fight for rebounding position? When an opposing player takes a shot Jermaine gazes toward to hoop while his man boxes him out for rebounding position. Can our Bigs be allowed to play with a forklift or in a bucket truck 'cause age and nature have robbed them of ANY lift God gave them!

MD!

Only six teams have won fewer games than Boston so far - Toronto, the Nets, Detroit, Charlotte, Washington and New Orleans.

Hard to believe.

I remember not too long ago when we started a season 27-2.

Still don't understand why GS played 1 minute.

The notion that big changes are coming has gained momentum.

So fellas here we go again.

Dboss

Oh, the value of a point guard...We shot 36.4% in the first quarter. In our arena, on our floor, at our baskets in front of our screaming fans. We had 2 ftas in the 1st quarter, 1 of them a T by Ray. We had no inside game and they weren't dropping from outside. Meanwhile, Gortat's eyes got as big as saucers when he saw JON matching up with him.

We made a great comeback after halftime and had a 3 point lead with 2:16 left in the 3rd quarter and then we went 0-4 including a KG layup getting blocked by Gortat, and we gave up a steal too, to finish the quarter. In 2:16, we went from 3 up to 5 down. The players on the floor for that debacle, except for the last 2 seconds or so before the buzzer, were KG, Ray, Pierce, Moore and Pietrus. 3 starters, a solid backup and a rookie. That's how bad our offense was last night. We had 3 starters on the floor for 2:16, 2 of them shooters (Ray and Pierce), got 4 shots and scored zero points. Credit to Moore for taking 2 of those fga (one of them a layup) and not just deferring to the starters. Too bad he couldn't back that 'tude up with results. And therein lies our current problems. We still have the championship 'tude, just not the results to back it up.

Listening to the Phoenix announcers last night, they often spoke highly of Bradley's game. They also had some interesting "color" comments. A block was called "an extermination", a 24 second violations was the shot clock "exploding" and moving your feet on defense was called "sliding those biscuits".

1. Marcin Gortat is a future HOFer based upon last night's game. He ate JON alive. It was really embarrassing. Gortat is, IMO, perhaps the most fundamentally sound center in the NBA, but 24 points on 10-18 and 12 rebounds? He scored the last 14 Suns points in the 1st quarter, most of it against Jermaine. It was ugly. JON is so out-of-sync he hesitated to take a foul-line jumper, which he made, but shouldn't have even hesitated about since it is well within his range. If we weren't sooo woefully thin at the 5-spot I'd trade Jermaine for a box of Krisy Kremes and then donate them.

2. KG has no lift. It's sad, really. He gets blocked at the rim regularly now, he's slow on man-to-man defenses and doesn't rotate as quickly on help defenses. He was cold as ice last night too. 5-13, 10 points, 5 boards in 33 minutes. An underwhelming presence who intimidates nobody anymore. He scored on a layup with time almost gone, while just last year he would have soared and slammed it.

3. Nobody expected Bradley to match-up with Nash on assists, that would have been an unfair expectation, and of course he didn't. He did do a good job, though, of containing Nash. He held Nash to below his season averages in both scoring and assists, and that's saying something. Nash isn't that Sneaky Little Canadian for nothing, he will generate offense on you in so many different ways he's hard to stop, but Bradley did about as well as anybody. Avery shot 5-9 from the field for 10 points but his outside shot is still unreliable. His defense, though...3 steals for the Honey Badger, 2 off the SLC. Sad to say, but Bradley was the best Celtic on the floor last night. He was the second Celtic in double digits. Pierce got to 10 before him, but just barely. That is pathetic team offense.

4. Moore is not ready for primetime. Can't handle the ball, can't run an offense and the thing he's supposed to be good at, scoring, he didn't do last night.

5. Steamer showed some sloppiness last night. He made a great recovery off a Phoenix steal and raced back fullcourt to block a shot. Considering how shitty JON looked and how old KG looked I have no idea why Doc only played Steamer 3 minutes. He couldn't have looked any uglier. What is Doc looking for? Is he expecting Jermaine and Kevin to get younger? Does he think they're just out-of-shape and so playing them will fix that? I don't get it. I know Doc sees Steamer in practice, so his opinion is far, far more educated and knowledgeable than mine, but I don't get it. What he's playing isn't working. Maybe the way to fire JON up is by sitting him down?

6. Bass had a solid game. 6 rebounds to go with 11 points on 5-10 shooting in 24 efficient minutes. NBA GMs think he's the most underrated offseason pickup this year. He's proving them right.

7. The good news is that Los Suns only had 5 fastbreak points. The bad news is that without Rondo we only had 2. That's the problem with only having a one-man fastbreak.

8. Ray Allen led all Celtic scorers last night with 14 very quiet points. He needs more than 8 fga. He has had a lot of trouble getting free the last few games. I tried to see why last night. I think some of it might be because the Celtics are setting their screens for him too high. By the time he comes around the pick and gets the ball he's already way out there and it doesn't take much for his man to come off the screen and challenge him. We need to set screens lower, so that he can pop out to wherever he wants and not be forced to be looking at a 23-footer because that's where the high screen forces him to pop out.

Danny's trigger finger is a bit more itchy this morning than it was 24 hours ago. Yes, I know we were missing both our point guards, but nobody except Bradley and maybe Ray Allen distinguished themselves last night. A team that needs one player, in our case Rondo, to ensure virtually any kind of offensive rhythm is a fragile team indeed.

bob

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Two words and I hate saying it: We're done

No Rondo, No Wilcox, no Dooling, bad game from Pierce, JON was hurting, Moore was dreadful, KG was awful, and they were still in the game with 2 minutes left.

Far from good, but far from done.

mrkleen09 wrote:No Rondo, No Wilcox, no Dooling, bad game from Pierce, JON was hurting, Moore was dreadful, KG was awful, and they were still in the game with 2 minutes left.

Far from good, but far from done.

I agree.

For those of you who missed the game, here's Stiemsma's 3/4 court-chase-down-a-guard-from-behind block.


Soon after making this block, Doc sat him down. That'll teach him to not keep it in bounds afterwards, huh?


bob

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bobheckler wrote: If we weren't sooo woefully thin at the 5-spot I'd trade Jermaine for a box of Krisy Kremes and then donate them.

bob

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Krispy Kreme...Can you still get them?

They closed all their locations around here.

Great Bob, now you've got me all worked up; I need a Krispy Kreme!

I did find this link to a copycat recipe; http://www.food.com/recipe/krispy-kreme-doughnuts-copycat-51199

I have to go start begging my wife to make this now.

Oh, wait. Was this a thread about last night's game? Sorry; got a little off track.

We lost.

At The Wiz Monday. Let's go get a W and try to get this train back on the track.

Regards

Edit: Bob, thanks for the video above of that block!

NYCelt wrote:

bobheckler wrote: If we weren't sooo woefully thin at the 5-spot I'd trade Jermaine for a box of Krisy Kremes and then donate them.

bob

.

Krispy Kreme...Can you still get them?

They closed all their locations around here.

Great Bob, now you've got me all worked up; I need a Krispy Kreme!

I did find this link to a copycat recipe; http://www.food.com/recipe/krispy-kreme-doughnuts-copycat-51199

I have to go start begging my wife to make this now.

Oh, wait. Was this a thread about last night's game? Sorry; got a little off track.

We lost.

At The Wiz Monday. Let's go get a W and try to get this train back on the track.

Regards

Edit: Bob, thanks for the video above of that block!

beat,

I still got one about 15 miles south of me.

I wish they were 55 miles south of me. Donuts are dangerous.

bob

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Latest NBA power ranking has Boston at #18. Even behind perennial dog Minnesota. Sheesh:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/nba-power-rankings-offensively-challenged-lakers-drop-top-ten-ny-knicks-drop-straight-fall-21-article-1.1009245

At least we are above the New York Knick's at 21.

112288

112288 wrote:At least we are above the New York Knick's at 21.

112288

Philadelphia is rated above the Lakers. I bet no one saw that coming this year.