POST GAME ORLANDO- IT'S GENO TIME!

Rondo Who? Ray Allen Who? Don't break up this starting line up! Could this be the break out game we are all hoping for? God I hope so. Best defensive game all year or perhaps a few years! We held Orlando to 24.6% shooting percentage, NBA RECORD, AND 23 TO! Speaking about a break out game, Bradley had a great game and seems like his game is growing stronger each time. Keep it going! The kid's got incredible speed. Good to see MD starting to round into shape. Good solid game for him. Even Pav got into the act. KG must have been inside a time machine, he turned the clock back a few years in this game.

How about Doc, have to give him an A+ for his bench and time management.

Hey Super Man...It's called Celtic pride! You will never experience it unless your PLAYING HERE!!!!!!!!!

WOW TWO IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HELD ORLANDO BELOW 60 POINTS (56)!!!!!!!!!!!
WE ARE AHEAD OF THE KNICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

112288

WEEI 850 RECAP

FAST BREAK: MAGIC PULL DISAPPEARING ACT VS. CELTICS
By Ben Rohrbach



Maybe this is the win this Celtics team needed. It was hard to see this one coming, especially with five Celtics regulars sidelined by injury against a Magic team that won 11 of its first 15 games, but the C’s put together their best stretch of basketball in a 87-56 welcome home victory against Glen Davis & Co. at the Garden on Monday.

Paul Pierce (19 points, 7 assists) once again led the offensive charge, with a little help from friends Kevin Garnett (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Brandon Bass (19 points, 8 rebounds). Meanwhile, starting in place of the injured Rajon Rondo, guard Avery Bradley (3 steals) wreaked havoc on the defensive end to help the C’s (7-9) hold Orlando to 16-of-65 shooting (24.6%) — the best defensive effort of this Big Three era.

Davis scored just six points (2-9 FG) but grabbed 11 rebounds, and Dwight Howard led the Magic’s anemic offensive effort with 18 points (4-15 FG) and 14 boards.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Defending their life: Led by defensive-minded starters Garnett and Bradley, the Celtics put together their best defensive game of the season. They held the Magic to just 11-of-38 shooting (28.9%) before the break, and actually improved upon that in the second half (5-27; 18.5%). The C’s recorded six blocks (shockingly, none by rejection artist Greg Stiemsma) and six steals by halftime, building an early lead — something that escaped them through their 6-9 start.

Familiar foes: Lost in the drama surrounding Big Baby’s return to the Garden was the fact Bass was also facing his former team, as the two former LSU teammates were traded for each other after the lockout. One of few healthy bodies coming off the bench, Bass reached double digits by halftime and gave the C’s a much-needed boost against his old teammates.

Avery Bradley, defensive stopper: The Celtics sophomore guard gave veteran Magic point guard Jameer Nelson problems all night long, picking his pocket twice, forcing a jump ball and altering his shot — all in the third quarter. Given his third consecutive start in Rondo’s absence, this stretch might be just what the Doc ordered in building Bradley’s confidence and expediting his development in what some believed could be a breakout season for the young guard.

WHAT WENT WRONG

No hands on deck: With Rajon Rondo (wrist), Ray Allen (ankle), Mickael Pietrus (shoulder), Keyon Dooling (knee) and Chris Wilcox (calf) all nursing injuries, the Celtics only had 10 active players on their roster. Hence, a starting guard combination of Avery Bradley and Sasha Pavlovic. Even with a full roster, the C’s should have had their hands full with the Magic, and you would have thought the lack of bodies might make it exponentially more difficult on an aging team still playing its way back into shape — but this win was a breakthrough for the Celtics.

Superman in the middle: The Celtics already struggle in the paint on both ends of the floor, and Dwight Howard doesn’t help matters. Howard scored the Magic’s first six points and nearly had a double-double by halftime (14 points, 8 rebounds). The C’s made the proper adjustments and “held” Howard to 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Tempers flare: Midway through the third quarter, with Jermaine O’Neal and Howard battling for position in the paint, the former waved his finger in the latter’s face as the two exchanged pleasantries. Both parties had to be separated and each was assessed a technical for the skirmish. O’Neal eventually fouled out of the game.

Where the hell has this Celtic team been hiding? What a great, gritty performance by our guys. We held the Magic to a franchise-low in points, 56 with stifling defense. They only shot 24.6% for the game! We came out with excellent energy, which we maintained the whole game and executed well. We only had 10 players suited up because Rondo, Dooling, Allen, Wilcox and Pietrus were out. That's 2 starters, our first guard off the bench, our backup center and our first SF off the bench. Every single Celtic player had a positive +/-. Hell, that means we even whipped them in garbage time! The Magic scored 10 points in the 3rd quarter AND only 10 points in the 4th quarter (and 7 of those came in garbage time by Larry Hughes and Von Wafer). That's a 20 point half. Amazing. As bad as our offense has been, and it's been horrible, we never had a 20 point half. This game filled me with hope like I haven't had in a while. At least for today, the sun is shining and the birds are singing happily on Celtics Planet. How do we bottle this and use it again?

I was listening to a feed with the Orlando announcers, Tom Steele and Matt Guokas. I occasionally enjoy listening to enemy chatter, it can be amusing, but Guokas is annoying as all hell. Very biased and not very factually based. Surprising for an ex-coach, but there you are. One thing he did say throughout the game was that he has become a believer in

1. Avery Bradley. If only this kid could find his shooting rhythm. His defense completely discombobulated one-time allstar and veteran point guard Jameer Nelson. It was rare for Nelson to get the ball into their halfcourt set with more than 15-16 seconds left on the shot clock because Bradley was slowing him up fullcourt. For a team that likes to dump the ball into Howard and then kick it out for a pass or two and a 3pt fga, taking away that extra pass or two by only giving them 14 seconds to run their set is a very big defensive advantage. Rarely seen, Bradley even forced a halfcourt violation by slowing the Magic down enough so they couldn't get over halfcourt in 7 seconds or less. How about this mini-boxscore: Bradley, 2-7 for 6 points, 4 rebs, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 blk (and that was after he got faked out on a headfake and recovered quickly enough to block it from behind) and zero turnovers in 29 minutes; Nelson, 2-5 for 5 points, 1 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 blk and 5 turnovers. A lot of those turnovers were courtesy of the Honey Badger. Tommy Point for Brad when he poked the ball away from Nelson at midcourt, dove for it, Nelson got up first and went after it and by the time he got to it Pierce and KG, two of our "doddering oldsters", were on him like a bird on a June Bug to tie him up for a jumpball a loooong way away from the basket. Great hustle by 3 players. With Rondo, Dooling and Ray Allen out, we needed our kindergarten guards to come out and play a BIG game. They did, but none bigger than the Honey Badger.

2. Howard was dominating in the first quarter and then stopped being effective. Nothing dropped after that. On defense, only 1 block by Superman. Sasha had more than that. I just laughed when I re-read this. Sasha had more blocks than D12. Sasha had more blocks than D12. Sasha had more blocks than D12. I'm going to giggle myself to sleep tonight.

3. Too bad they don't count 3-ptrs after the whistle blows. Sasha would be a world-beater. He hits them, no problem, when the game stops but not so much when in play. Other than his shooting (he still ended up 4-9) he played pretty good defense. I'm really not asking for much from our 12th man, so I'm pleasantly surprised...

4. Brandon Bass for Glen Davis and Von Wafer? Sure, I'll take that trade all day, all night and twice on Sunday. 11 rebounds for Baby, but 2-9 shooting. Bass, on the other hand, was 8-14 for 19 points and 8 rebounds. I'm loving this guy and not missing the drama one single second.

5. Fathead Guokas was running down KG and his offense, but he ended up with 14 points on 5-9 shooting. What threw Guokas off was the concept of KG passing the ball to generate a coherent offense. He thought (and said as much) that he thought KG was "offensively tentative". This is why you're an announcer now Guokas. Those who can't play, coach. Those who can't coach, announce. Don't make me say what people like you who can't announce end up doing...

6. Two fga by Redick? We're never going to see that again. We blew up their offense so badly Redick got a 24-second violation because he couldn't find enough daylight to shoot or pass and JJ Redick doesn't need much daylight to shoot. Ryan Anderson, 0-8. Turkoglu, 1-4. Not many fga and and damn few of the ones they got were uncontested. There was always somebody flying at them. I absolutely loved our defense tonight. Loved it. Nice, crisp, sure defensive rotations. Very few penetrations. No Rondo gambling on reach-around pokes, just good old-fashioned, fundamentally sound "sliding those biscuits" defense. I couldn't be happier.

7. Moore couldn't find his shot, but the rookie played good defense on veteran guard Chris Duhon. JJJ came in and made some statements. This was the best I've seen him play. Aggressive on both ends. Steamer struggled. I can't understand why, don't they have players like Dwight Howard in D-League and Korea? I can't even tell you what Guokas said about a foul Steamer committed on Howard and how it related to Perk it makes me so angry. Steamer is showing rookie inconsistencies. Maybe that's why he's not playing much?

8. We were a perfect 19-19 from the line. Oh yeah, that's right, Rondo was out.

9. JON fouled out and had a really awful offensive game (0-4, 0 points) but I loved the fact that he fought Howard tooth-and-nail. His body is in the crapper, but he still has his heart and pride. I'm not sure how far his heart and pride will carry us in the playoffs, but it's all he has left and he's leaving it on the floor.

10. The Magic got 4 points from fast breaks. No Rondo, we still got 11. We had energy tonight, we had energy tonight. Unfortunately, just as when Rondo is in, there really wasn't anybody who could run with Bradley on the breaks. Next year, with some speed added to the roster, I think we'll be breaking land speed records with those two.

11. Fathead also said that the Celtics had problems scoring in the paint. Really? Orlando scored 16 points in the paint and we scored 34. What fucking game were you watching Guokas?

12. At one point in the 3rd quarter, the Magic were doubleteaming Marquis Daniels everytime he got the ball. I don't know if this was because they thought that he was the only ballhandler/floor general we had, so get it out of his hands or if they were afraid that he'd post his man up. Strange to see though. Didn't work, Q only had 1 TO and 5 assists. The Celtics as a team had 21 assists on 33 fga for an assist-to-fgm ratio of 63.6%. That's pretty good team offense, much better than we've seen in a while.

I've been waiting to write a exuberant, over-the-top post-game opinion all year. This is, I hope, the first of many more. Come back soon, Rajon and Ray, but we did just fine with out you. At least, for tonight.

bob

.

What a remarkable victory! This would have been amazing the second of a back 2 back with all hands on deck much less as under-manned as the Celtics were. Maybe Doc gave everyone who dressed in uniform an extra shot of expresso. There was surely energy aplenty to go around. Everyone manned up and contributed to this win. Holding Orlando to 56 points has to be one of the most stellar defensive efforts in franchise history. Jermaine showed guts in his confrntation with Howard, but I'm glad for O'Neal's sake Howard doesn't have the disposition of the artist formerly known as Ron Artest. I agree the C's got the better of the Baby/Bass trade. You can't always execute, but effort to the max like what the C's brought tonight can make up for many short comings. Starters, reserves alike "brought it" tonight and the crowd in attendance and watching on NBA TV if you were a Celtic fan, it was certainly a night of which you could be proud. I'm sure the players of yesteryear would agree/

AB continues to impress on D.

A surprising big time win and a glimmer that the rotation and starters are learning to play together.

Dboss

Hi,
I don't know what Celtics players had for breakfast yesterday but it definitely helped. Or, maybe it was a team lunch. Every Celtic was scorching the floor. I never thought Sasha is capable of such moves as he did in 1Q along the base line for reverse layup.
Frankly I wouldn't call it a great game - it was a defensive clinic. Rotations out of picks were crisp. Help defense was right on time. On-ball defenders were like velcro. If on Thur Celtics can show the same cohesion for 2-3 quarters they will mentally demolish Orl (my hope).

AK

Great game against a very good opponent.

-Bradley is playing solid basketball, improving each and every night.
-Pierce is getting back into form...and looks MUCH more confident.
-If KG cant give us much on offense, but at least rebounds and plays good D like last night, I am fine with it.
-JON...adding toughness under the basket and refusing to back down to that big bully Howard. Loved their confrontation.

Biggest thing I saw last night was in relation to Marquis Daniels. Plain and simple, the guy needs more minutes to get into the flow. If he is getting 6 or 8 minutes a night - he never fully breaks a sweat and gets into the flow of the game. Doc has got to try and find a way to play Pietrus and Daniels at the same time, as Quis is an outstanding facilitator once he gets into the flow.

Also, Wyc made a comment about a quote from Mark Cuban - saying that the early part of a condensed season benefits the young, athletic teams - but in the end, it will be the veteran squads who will rise up. I think he is 100% on the money.

Very happy to see the team smiling and that the boo birds out here have to find another place to roost, at least until Thursday.

Liked the effort right to the end, young pups have a way of always looking for another bone in that end I see no reason to rush anyone RR RA PP KG back from any ache or pain. Bradley just wants to get into everyones grill and that doesn't show in any stat line but in the ripple effect in that It sure looks like it is a bit contagious. If you love watching the definition of defense watch Bradley. Now if someone would introduce him to a jump shot!! Stll he takes it to the hole hard and sticks his nose in there for some boards too. Hope Doc finds minutes for him when RR comes back.

Every team lays an egg now and then and this was Orlando's egg big time. Seemed they missed some open looks but they didn't get a lot of those either. I'm sure they will be loaded for bear on the rematch in their house. Wouldn't it be nice to slap them around again?

Hopefully a few more W's like this in the near term.

beat

This is what Stan Van Gundy had to say about Avery Bradley after the game: “That’s the most dominating defensive performance I’ve ever had against me.”

bob

.

Regarding the comments about Avery Bradley -- Sometimes what lesser-known players need is an opportunity, and not just in one game but over an extended stretch of games. Not everyone takes advantage of such opportunities, but it looks like Bradley might be taking advantage of his. Now that he's getting comfortable, we're seeing what he can do.

Now for Bradley, and the Celtics, we'll see if this game is something they can build on. Playing the same team Wednesday that they crushed on Monday will be interesting. Almost as interesting will be the game after that against the Pacers, a team they've lost to twice already.

Outside

This from the Orlando Sentinel:
Bradley fired up his teammates, and he also appeared to unnerve Nelson.

“He seemed like he didn’t even want to bring the ball up,” Bradley said in a postgame interview with NBA TV. “I looked at him and he kept telling me throughout the game, ‘You know what, don’t pick me up, don’t pick me up.’ And that’s when I knew, if I brought pressure, he didn’t want nothing to do with it.”


And from the Boston Herald:

“It got to a point where he didn’t want to bring the ball up,” Bradley said of Nelson. “That’s when I knew I was having an effect.” …

“I can tell (when they get frustrated). Sometimes they talk to me,” said Bradley. “They’ll say you can get back a little bit, you don’t have to pick me up all the time, and when they start talking to me like that, that’s when I know I’ve got them.

Asked if that’s what Nelson said tonight, Bradley replied, “Everybody says it to me – everybody. I just laugh. I might just look at them, I’m going to keep coming all of the time.”

At this rate, we might have to start a dedicated Avery Bradley Thread.

bob

.

Is it March yet? I still say, "See me in March."

Sam

Hope your right Sam, KG's defense was his best in a while and Bradley defends all over out of the gate, Quis was on. A very good surprising win, want to see more PT for JJJ.

Simple math RE KG

If Bradley makes um take virtually the entire 8 seconds to cross 1/2 court then perhaps another 3-4 to do something that's darn close to 1/2 the entire shot clock to set up a play meaning, KG and the others might not have to play only 8-10 seconds on tough D on many possessions, instead of 16-20 perhaps. Plus there will be a whole lot less picks to contend with too.

Something to keep an eye on when Bradley is on the court.

Hard to believe any of these PG's would ask him to back off.

Wish he could develop a jumper but I'll take what he gives for sure.

beat

Did anyone catch this?

Check out what . . .

Jason Richardson (no relation) did during their Monday game against the Boston Celtics.

It turned out to be a big help, too, because he knocked the ball away from Greg Stiemsma, who almost certainly didn't expect someone to appear magically from out of bounds. Since, you know, that tends not to happen in a professional basketball game with security guards and coaches.

Video and the rest of the article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/video-jason-richardson-leaps-off-bench-play-defense-145754425.html;_ylt=Alm_s17fapGlA.z9pS_mkhO8vLYF

He leaves the bench, comes from behind Steimsma to knock the ball out of bounds, then goes back to the bench? He never checks into, or out of, the game?

You gotta love the NBA refs!!! There are three per game.

GYSO

What a joke. Heck they needed it more on the offensive end. Should have been a tech for not properly checking in. Any player that leaves the bench and runs on the floor while the ball is in play, and the refs see and do nothing about it?? What gives...?? Glad it didn't matter this game.

beat

gyso wrote:Did anyone catch this?

Check out what . . .

Jason Richardson (no relation) did during their Monday game against the Boston Celtics.

It turned out to be a big help, too, because he knocked the ball away from Greg Stiemsma, who almost certainly didn't expect someone to appear magically from out of bounds. Since, you know, that tends not to happen in a professional basketball game with security guards and coaches.

Video and the rest of the article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/video-jason-richardson-leaps-off-bench-play-defense-145754425.html;_ylt=Alm_s17fapGlA.z9pS_mkhO8vLYF

He leaves the bench, comes from behind Steimsma to knock the ball out of bounds, then goes back to the bench? He never checks into, or out of, the game?

You gotta love the NBA refs!!! There are three per game.

Hi,
NBA, where amazing happens...
Actually, T+M picked that something's was fishy right after the event.
Now, my question: isn't the player or the team supposed to be penalized for this even after the play?

AK

Sinus

I can only speak for HS rules, seems the NBA rules are twofold, the ones they have and the ones they enforce.

In HS a player leaving the bench whom has NOT checked into the scorers table even during a timeout and goes onto the floor and did NOT notify the scoring table will be assested a technical foul. Other team gets 2 shots and possession of the ball at midcourt.

Always wondered why a technical foul in the NBA does not result in loss of possesion too.

With all the cameras at an NBA game for eview if need be and with three refs supposedly "watching" it is hard to believe a 6'+ player can emerge from OFF the bench run onto the court (even if he is a 5th player as the team was short one) come up from behind the player with the ball, slap it away and retreat to the same bench with absolutely imunity and without being seen in the first place.

Brings new meaning to turning a blind eye... or in this case 6 of them.

beat

sinus007 wrote:

gyso wrote:Did anyone catch this?

Check out what . . .

Jason Richardson (no relation) did during their Monday game against the Boston Celtics.

It turned out to be a big help, too, because he knocked the ball away from Greg Stiemsma, who almost certainly didn't expect someone to appear magically from out of bounds. Since, you know, that tends not to happen in a professional basketball game with security guards and coaches.

Video and the rest of the article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/video-jason-richardson-leaps-off-bench-play-defense-145754425.html;_ylt=Alm_s17fapGlA.z9pS_mkhO8vLYF

He leaves the bench, comes from behind Steimsma to knock the ball out of bounds, then goes back to the bench? He never checks into, or out of, the game?

You gotta love the NBA refs!!! There are three per game.

Hi,
NBA, where amazing happens...
Actually, T+M picked that something's was fishy right after the event.
Now, my question: isn't the player or the team supposed to be penalized for this even after the play?

AK

What happened was that a player, I think JJ Redick, was trying to check into the game for Richardson, but wasn't allowed in. Richardson, anticipating he'd be taken out, sat down. When he saw the player still at the scorer's table, he got off the bench and got back in the game. As soon as the ball was knocked out of bounds and the play was stopped, the new player was allowed in and Richardson went back to the bench.

Richardson saved himself a lot of embarrassment. They were 4 on 5 because he sat down without making sure his replacement was in the game first.

bob

.

It would be nice if they had a "video ref" to do all the video reviews so they dont have to deal with getting the monitor and so on. They could also deal with "3p shot or not" without having to take a break in the game (of course they would still let the teams/coaches know when possible).

bobheckler wrote:

sinus007 wrote:

gyso wrote:Did anyone catch this?

Check out what . . .

Jason Richardson (no relation) did during their Monday game against the Boston Celtics.

It turned out to be a big help, too, because he knocked the ball away from Greg Stiemsma, who almost certainly didn't expect someone to appear magically from out of bounds. Since, you know, that tends not to happen in a professional basketball game with security guards and coaches.

Video and the rest of the article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/video-jason-richardson-leaps-off-bench-play-defense-145754425.html;_ylt=Alm_s17fapGlA.z9pS_mkhO8vLYF

He leaves the bench, comes from behind Steimsma to knock the ball out of bounds, then goes back to the bench? He never checks into, or out of, the game?

You gotta love the NBA refs!!! There are three per game.

Hi,
NBA, where amazing happens...
Actually, T+M picked that something's was fishy right after the event.
Now, my question: isn't the player or the team supposed to be penalized for this even after the play?

AK

What happened was that a player, I think JJ Redick, was trying to check into the game for Richardson, but wasn't allowed in. Richardson, anticipating he'd be taken out, sat down. When he saw the player still at the scorer's table, he got off the bench and got back in the game. As soon as the ball was knocked out of bounds and the play was stopped, the new player was allowed in and Richardson went back to the bench.

Richardson saved himself a lot of embarrassment. They were 4 on 5 because he sat down without making sure his replacement was in the game first.

bob

.

bob,

Thanks for the explanation.

As Maxwell Smart would have said, "The old hide-an-active-player-on-the-bench trick. That's the second time I've fallen for that this week!!"

"Would you believe its the first time?"

"Would you believe never?"



The ref's should say, "Sorry about that, Celts!! We missed it by that much!!"

Bob

Thanks for the explanation, guess it makes sense. However seems that a player that is in the game, is suppose to be ON THE COURT when a ball is about to be put in play not on the bench. And to come directly off the bench to join play after the ball is put in play must be in violation of some rule I would think?

Oh well. We won.

beat