POST GAME CHICAGO

AS RONDO RUNS...SO GO THE CELTICS!

Win or lose, I can accept an effort like this any day of the week! No one can beat the Celtics if they run the whole game...No Body! I call it BIM = Bodies In Motion!

Kudo's to the regular non starters. Wilcox was great! And with real quality time against one of the best starting 5 JJJ was just terrific. Doc trusted the kid and he did not disappoint. This will really help us down the road as our bench keeps on getting deeper. Nice job also by Bradley who has a shoulder injury with some nice pressure on the ball and some pops from the outside!

44 REBOUNDS AND 9 BLOCK SHOTS...NOW THAT'S TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS IN THE PAINT!

Next Game Wednesday at Detroit @ 7:30 PM

112288

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Brandon Bass to miss up to 2 weeks
By Chris Forsberg
ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Forward Brandon Bass, the Boston Celtics' top reserve, will miss 10 to 14 days with inflammation in his right knee, coach Doc Rivers said before Sunday's 95-91 win against the Chicago Bulls.

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Bass felt some discomfort in the knee during a win over the New York Knicks on Feb. 3. He sat out the following game against the Memphis Grizzlies, but played in three games last week. Rivers said the news came as a bit of a surprise to him, as he was informed by team trainer Eddie Lacerte on Sunday morning that Bass almost certainly will be out through the All-Star break, which begins Feb. 23.

"We knew his knee was bothering him, but then he got the treatment, and he missed that one game," Rivers said. "There was nothing said after the Toronto game. Then Eddie called me this morning and told me he was out, and out for a while. That was a surprise."

The Celtics also were without starting center Jermaine O'Neal, who missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury. O'Neal appeared to get dinged against the Lakers and sat out Friday's game in Toronto. Rivers suggested O'Neal was day to day, but asked about the injuries, he quipped, "Shoulder, knee, age -- I don't know."

Chris Wilcox started at center in place of O'Neal.

In positive health news for the Celtics, guard Avery Bradley is "fully healthy," according to Rivers, after battling shoulder pain last week, while guard Keyon Dooling returned after missing 16 of the last 17 games because of right knee soreness and a right hip pointer. Sasha Pavlovic also was available after enduring a flare-up of an injured left wrist last week.

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GAME RECAP WEEI 850

FAST BREAK: RAJON RONDO, CELTICS OUTRUN THE BULLS
By Ben Rohrbach

BOSTON — Receiving little help from Paul Pierce and Ray Allen through the first three quarters, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo put the team on his back, taking advantage of reigning MVP Derrick Rose‘s absence and recording a triple-double in leading the C’s to victory against the visiting Bulls, 95-91.

Rondo finished with a season highs of 32 points (11-22 FG, 10-13 FT) and 15 assists to go along with his 10 rebounds. His 4-for-4 free throw shooting down the stretch helped the Celtics snap a two-game losing streak and improved to 15-12.

While Pierce and Allen combined for just 10 points (3-11 FG) and one rebound through the third quarter, they totaled 10 points in the fourth quarter as the C’s built a double-digit lead that nearly disappeared. Fourth amigo Kevin Garnett (13 points, 12 rebounds) contributed a double-double to provide a Robin to Rondo’s Batman.

Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah combined for 38 points and 16 rebounds for the Bulls (23-7) with Rose sidelined by back spasms.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Rondo goes: With Rose nursing his back spasms, Rondo had free reign against Bulls backup point guards C.J. Watson and John Lucas. In the first 10 minutes, Rondo amassed 11 points, two assists and two rebounds as the Celtics PA announcer seemingly called his name every time down the floor. His first-quarter effort staked the C’s to a 28-23 lead. The Celtics entered the game with a 10-2 record when leading after the opening 12 minutes.

Automatic transition: Likewise, without Rose running the floor, Rondo & Co. roamed free on the fast break. The Celtics entered the game averaging just 10.3 fast break points per game (ranked 25th in the NBA). They outscored the Bulls by a 33-7 margin — with Rondo’s layups and alley-oop assists leading the way.

Willing Wilcox: With Jermaine O’Neal and Brandon Bass both sidelined by knee injuries, Chris Wilcox got his first start in a Celtics uniform. He rose to the occasion, totaling 11 points (5-6 FG) and nine rebounds.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Frontcourt depth: In the absences of O’Neal and Bass, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was forced to turn to both Greg Stiemsma and JaJuan Johnson for minutes as soon as the first quarter, and neither has fully grasped the team’s sets yet. However, in a season-high 33 minutes, Johnson totaled 12 points and four boards — showing signs he’s gaining confidence in the jump shot that made him so successful at the collegiate level.

Second chances: The Celtics entered the game allowing just over 11 offensive rebounds per game — not a very good number. By halftime, Chicago had already amassed 11 offensive boards. The Bulls finished with 15 offensive rebounds and outscored the Celtics 20-6 on second-chance points.

Carelessness: The Celtics committed 19 turnovers, leading to 18 Bulls points. It’s a wonder they led almost the entire game.

A game with some reasons for cautious optimism.

Wilcox and Johnson looked good, with Johnson getting some extended minutes. Given the opportunity both could very well continue to pick it up. I think we've only seen a small preview of what Johnson can do once he gets comfortable and Wilcox looks like he can grab some boards.

We were down our key reserve in Bass and also without O'Neal. The Bulls were likewise down 40% of their starting lineup and had Boozer turning in a worse-than-usual defensive effort; two factors which allowed Rondo to have an enjoyable afternoon.

We're starting to loose some of the sluggish play on offense with our core four starters looking like they've gained rhythm and momentum that they otherwise would have ramped up in the normal pre-season.

Bulls reserve CJ Watson still ran up a big total on us, and we couldn't put a diminished Bulls squad away in our house, however.

Overall though, it's still a positive step for us.

I am sad I missed this game since people are mentioning Johnson doing well.

Love this team, win or lose. Go Celtics!

Hi,
I watched the first half only so can't comment on the whole game.
But what a difference with the previous game, especially in the attitude.
What happened at the end of 4Q? According to the reports Celtics were 14 points ahead with about 5 min left. Starters got tired? Or is it mental?

RR is an enigma: one game he's in coma the next one he's triple-double. What ticks him off?

AK

Celtics just could not fully turn the switch - as the Bulls were RIPE to be blown out. They are a collection of role players with Rose as the glue. If he is hurt for an extended period of time, they are not going to hold onto #1 spot in the East. They are a very beatable team.

Pierce was off. Allen was off. This usually means a C's loss, but not yesterday. KG played a solid game...Wilcox was tough....Pietrus and Bradley played ok. It really was the Rondo and JJJ show.

Good win. I will be there on Wednesday Night, so hope they keep it rolling.

Sinus

As for what happened in the 4th.

Think we were a little too concerned with running the clock down during the last part of the 4th quarter, rather than continue attacking. Got us into some poor forced/shots and bad passes that led to steals and a couple easy hoops for the Bulls. Plus we turned it over on some sloppy passes against token pressure.
Rondo was clutch from the line late going 4x4 within the last minute or so.

beat

The Boston Celtics, after being humiliated by the Toronto Raptors and embarrassing their coach in the process, win a 4 point game against the MVP-less Chicago Bulls. Forgive me if I'm not letting my emotions get away from me on this one. Quite frankly, I think Chicago has more reasons to feel good about this one than we do. Ask yourself this, "if Derrick Rose was playing, would he be worth more than +4"? How about Rip Hamilton? He didn't play either. The 18 points they scored off of our 18 turnovers almost overcame our significantly better shooting (49% vs 39%) and did us in, but a 4 point victory over a team missing two great players isn't cause for a parade, IMO. At least we showed some pride, and that's always worth something.

1. The Running Away From Da Bulls. Rondo ran wild. Funny how lack of competition lets you excel. I suppose the good news here is that he got over whatever funk he was in the previous game and came to play. I will say one thing, and this makes me very happy, and that is he hit 4 very clutch free throws in the last :21 to stymie Chicago's attempts to tie it up with a 3ptr. Now there's an example of how he didn't let his brain undermine his performance. He was 10-13 on the night from the line. How can we get and keep him in this zone every night? As a pass-first point guard, he is the spoon that stirs the rest of the team's drink. He MUST come to play every night for us, as a team, to win. C'mon Rondo, keep that frown turned upside down.

2. Solid game by Chris Wilcox. Worked his butt off. What a shame he's not taller. As we have seen numerous times, his man can come over his back to get boards. Putting a body on them sooner would help that, but we've flagellated that deceased equine already. Nevertheless, he got his job done yesterday. 9 boards, 11 points doing it his way and that's by being active and working hard. This is what we need from him, but we need it consistently.

3. KG only had 12 boards. I say "only" because I swear it seemed like he got every rebound. I thought KG was a monster on defense yesterday. Not a big shooting day for him (although he was 5-8, nice fg%) but he was everywhere on defense. 4 blocks, smothering interior help defense and defensive anchor in just 29 well-managed minutes. I'll take this KG all day every day. This is what we need from him.

4. JJJ had another nice game. You can see that Doc's sets aren't flowing effortlessly to him, but he worked hard and took advantage of what he got. He has confidence in his mid-range jumpshot, and it looks like he should. He has the same stroke as KG, and that's a good thing. This is not to say he didn't miss, but they looked good coming out of his hands. He also looks for opportunities to slash to the hoop. With Bass out for 2 weeks with his inflamed knee (I'm not liking that a 26 year old player's knee gets sore by playing relatively limited minutes), JJJ should have the minutes to elevate his game, assimilate Doc's playbook more thoroughly and really help this club.

5. Did you see the replay of Steamer's block? I swear, it was pure Bill Russell. No, I'm not saying that he's another Russ, but that block had the "wrist-flick block" technique Russ used to tap the ball to a teammate and start a fast break (rather than blasting it out of bounds and giving a side-out to the other team). In this case, Steamer's tap went to Rondo, who made a layup 3 seconds later.

6. We didn't get much offensively from Pierce and Allen yesterday, but they played good defense on Deng (an underrated player, IMO) and Ronnie Brewer. Considering the absence of Rose had Rondo going crazy, that's all we needed from them. Stop the rest of the players from stepping up in his absence.

7. I love Carlos "The Bruiser" Boozer. He is an absolute throwback at the PF position. At 6'9", 260+ he's not going to jump over you but he will, and does, put a body on you. Can't leave him alone from mid-range, can't stop him inside either. Love him.

8. As much as I love Boozer, I hate Noah. He works hard, I'll give him that, but his attitude deserves an elbow to the chops. And what's with that sissy bun he wears his hair in? He wants to play smashmouth until somebody smashes him back and then he whines like a little beeyatch. His shooting technique wants to make me puke. Hey kids! If you're watching this at home, DON'T shoot like Noah.

9. Our lack of height was obvious again, with Noah and Asik getting offensive rebounds. Still, overall, I'm pleased with our effort and results. We outrebounded them 44-42. One could say "Of course we did, they only shot 39%, so that creates a lot of rebounds", and that's true, but as we saw with Indiana and in other games just because they miss doesn't mean they don't get offensive rebounds and second shots. Noah (barf) and Taj Gibson excelled on the O-glass, and Asik did very well too, but we contained Boozer and others, and that's ok with me.

Right now, we need to win. Win pretty, win ugly, just win. Maintain, or perhaps gain, on our playoff seeding and using the rest of the season to integrate newbies like Wilcox, Bass, JJJ, Moore.

A long rest, with our next game against the 8-21 (probably 8-22, after Tuesday's game against San Antone) Detroit in Boston on Wednesday. Lots of naps and practice should be on the agenda. If this was a regular 82-game season, would we get 3 days off like this?

bob

.

But Bob,

We did not have JON nor Bass. So I think things evened out with Rose not playing. In fact I believe the score would be higher in our favor.

But I also know how you feel. One is skeptical about this Jekyll & Hyde team. Which team do we really have?

112288

To 112288: JON or Bass would not probably equal the difference Rose would have made, not our fault. The Celts have had to play VERY short handed on a number of occasions

To BobH: I wish Noah would have been a tennis player like his old man was. Could you see Jokim Noah playing vs. John Isner, or Sam Querry. WOW!

I hated how Breen made Rose into a model choir boy, conveniently not mentioning Rose played with bogus SAT score at Memphis under dirt bag Calapari!

MD!

bobheckler wrote:The Boston Celtics, after being humiliated by the Toronto Raptors and embarrassing their coach in the process, win a 4 point game against the MVP-less Chicago Bulls. Forgive me if I'm not letting my emotions get away from me on this one. Quite frankly, I think Chicago has more reasons to feel good about this one than we do. Ask yourself this, "if Derrick Rose was playing, would he be worth more than +4"? How about Rip Hamilton? He didn't play either. The 18 points they scored off of our 18 turnovers almost overcame our significantly better shooting (49% vs 39%) and did us in, but a 4 point victory over a team missing two great players isn't cause for a parade, IMO. At least we showed some pride, and that's always worth something.

1. The Running Away From Da Bulls. Rondo ran wild. Funny how lack of competition lets you excel. I suppose the good news here is that he got over whatever funk he was in the previous game and came to play. I will say one thing, and this makes me very happy, and that is he hit 4 very clutch free throws in the last :21 to stymie Chicago's attempts to tie it up with a 3ptr. Now there's an example of how he didn't let his brain undermine his performance. He was 10-13 on the night from the line. How can we get and keep him in this zone every night? As a pass-first point guard, he is the spoon that stirs the rest of the team's drink. He MUST come to play every night for us, as a team, to win. C'mon Rondo, keep that frown turned upside down.

2. Solid game by Chris Wilcox. Worked his butt off. What a shame he's not taller. As we have seen numerous times, his man can come over his back to get boards. Putting a body on them sooner would help that, but we've flagellated that deceased equine already. Nevertheless, he got his job done yesterday. 9 boards, 11 points doing it his way and that's by being active and working hard. This is what we need from him, but we need it consistently.

3. KG only had 12 boards. I say "only" because I swear it seemed like he got every rebound. I thought KG was a monster on defense yesterday. Not a big shooting day for him (although he was 5-8, nice fg%) but he was everywhere on defense. 4 blocks, smothering interior help defense and defensive anchor in just 29 well-managed minutes. I'll take this KG all day every day. This is what we need from him.

4. JJJ had another nice game. You can see that Doc's sets aren't flowing effortlessly to him, but he worked hard and took advantage of what he got. He has confidence in his mid-range jumpshot, and it looks like he should. He has the same stroke as KG, and that's a good thing. This is not to say he didn't miss, but they looked good coming out of his hands. He also looks for opportunities to slash to the hoop. With Bass out for 2 weeks with his inflamed knee (I'm not liking that a 26 year old player's knee gets sore by playing relatively limited minutes), JJJ should have the minutes to elevate his game, assimilate Doc's playbook more thoroughly and really help this club.

5. Did you see the replay of Steamer's block? I swear, it was pure Bill Russell. No, I'm not saying that he's another Russ, but that block had the "wrist-flick block" technique Russ used to tap the ball to a teammate and start a fast break (rather than blasting it out of bounds and giving a side-out to the other team). In this case, Steamer's tap went to Rondo, who made a layup 3 seconds later.

6. We didn't get much offensively from Pierce and Allen yesterday, but they played good defense on Deng (an underrated player, IMO) and Ronnie Brewer. Considering the absence of Rose had Rondo going crazy, that's all we needed from them. Stop the rest of the players from stepping up in his absence.

7. I love Carlos "The Bruiser" Boozer. He is an absolute throwback at the PF position. At 6'9", 260+ he's not going to jump over you but he will, and does, put a body on you. Can't leave him alone from mid-range, can't stop him inside either. Love him.

8. As much as I love Boozer, I hate Noah. He works hard, I'll give him that, but his attitude deserves an elbow to the chops. And what's with that sissy bun he wears his hair in? He wants to play smashmouth until somebody smashes him back and then he whines like a little beeyatch. His shooting technique wants to make me puke. Hey kids! If you're watching this at home, DON'T shoot like Noah.

9. Our lack of height was obvious again, with Noah and Asik getting offensive rebounds. Still, overall, I'm pleased with our effort and results. We outrebounded them 44-42. One could say "Of course we did, they only shot 39%, so that creates a lot of rebounds", and that's true, but as we saw with Indiana and in other games just because they miss doesn't mean they don't get offensive rebounds and second shots. Noah (barf) and Taj Gibson excelled on the O-glass, and Asik did very well too, but we contained Boozer and others, and that's ok with me.

Right now, we need to win. Win pretty, win ugly, just win. Maintain, or perhaps gain, on our playoff seeding and using the rest of the season to integrate newbies like Wilcox, Bass, JJJ, Moore.

A long rest, with our next game against the 8-21 (probably 8-22, after Tuesday's game against San Antone) Detroit in Boston on Wednesday. Lots of naps and practice should be on the agenda. If this was a regular 82-game season, would we get 3 days off like this?

bob

.

Bob,

I pretty much agree with your post top to bottom. Nothing to add; just thought I would say so.

Regards

bob

I too pretty much agree with everything you wrote. one thing though, I bet if Noah was a Celtic you'd love him. I love his versatility, speed, intensity. I hope JJJ can model his game after KG and Noah, you can be skinny and still get it done in that paint. cow

112288 wrote:But Bob,

We did not have JON nor Bass. So I think things evened out with Rose not playing. In fact I believe the score would be higher in our favor.

But I also know how you feel. One is skeptical about this Jekyll & Hyde team. Which team do we really have?

112288

112288,

JON + Bass does not equal Rose + Rip, IMO. Those two guys can drop 40 on you in a blink.

You're right about Jekyll & Hyde.

bob

.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob

I too pretty much agree with everything you wrote. one thing though, I bet if Noah was a Celtic you'd love him. I love his versatility, speed, intensity. I hope JJJ can model his game after KG and Noah, you can be skinny and still get it done in that paint. cow

cow,

If he was in green I'd love him, like the way I love my cousin Howard, whom I love but do not like. He's not in green, so screw him and anything that looks like him (good luck finding something that looks like a twit with a housewife hairstyle).

I'll try and be more reasonable about his game, but when I look at his goofy hair and whiny face I just want to club him like a baby seal...

bob

.

Bob,

Wow I guess you have very little faith in Celtic D to say these 2 guys would drop 40 on us! But then again we used that strategy with Wilt when we allowed him to score and the rest of the team scored nothing and we would win.

112288

NYCelt wrote:

bobheckler wrote:The Boston Celtics, after being humiliated by the Toronto Raptors and embarrassing their coach in the process, win a 4 point game against the MVP-less Chicago Bulls. Forgive me if I'm not letting my emotions get away from me on this one. Quite frankly, I think Chicago has more reasons to feel good about this one than we do. Ask yourself this, "if Derrick Rose was playing, would he be worth more than +4"? How about Rip Hamilton? He didn't play either. The 18 points they scored off of our 18 turnovers almost overcame our significantly better shooting (49% vs 39%) and did us in, but a 4 point victory over a team missing two great players isn't cause for a parade, IMO. At least we showed some pride, and that's always worth something.

1. The Running Away From Da Bulls. Rondo ran wild. Funny how lack of competition lets you excel. I suppose the good news here is that he got over whatever funk he was in the previous game and came to play. I will say one thing, and this makes me very happy, and that is he hit 4 very clutch free throws in the last :21 to stymie Chicago's attempts to tie it up with a 3ptr. Now there's an example of how he didn't let his brain undermine his performance. He was 10-13 on the night from the line. How can we get and keep him in this zone every night? As a pass-first point guard, he is the spoon that stirs the rest of the team's drink. He MUST come to play every night for us, as a team, to win. C'mon Rondo, keep that frown turned upside down.

2. Solid game by Chris Wilcox. Worked his butt off. What a shame he's not taller. As we have seen numerous times, his man can come over his back to get boards. Putting a body on them sooner would help that, but we've flagellated that deceased equine already. Nevertheless, he got his job done yesterday. 9 boards, 11 points doing it his way and that's by being active and working hard. This is what we need from him, but we need it consistently.

3. KG only had 12 boards. I say "only" because I swear it seemed like he got every rebound. I thought KG was a monster on defense yesterday. Not a big shooting day for him (although he was 5-8, nice fg%) but he was everywhere on defense. 4 blocks, smothering interior help defense and defensive anchor in just 29 well-managed minutes. I'll take this KG all day every day. This is what we need from him.

4. JJJ had another nice game. You can see that Doc's sets aren't flowing effortlessly to him, but he worked hard and took advantage of what he got. He has confidence in his mid-range jumpshot, and it looks like he should. He has the same stroke as KG, and that's a good thing. This is not to say he didn't miss, but they looked good coming out of his hands. He also looks for opportunities to slash to the hoop. With Bass out for 2 weeks with his inflamed knee (I'm not liking that a 26 year old player's knee gets sore by playing relatively limited minutes), JJJ should have the minutes to elevate his game, assimilate Doc's playbook more thoroughly and really help this club.

5. Did you see the replay of Steamer's block? I swear, it was pure Bill Russell. No, I'm not saying that he's another Russ, but that block had the "wrist-flick block" technique Russ used to tap the ball to a teammate and start a fast break (rather than blasting it out of bounds and giving a side-out to the other team). In this case, Steamer's tap went to Rondo, who made a layup 3 seconds later.

6. We didn't get much offensively from Pierce and Allen yesterday, but they played good defense on Deng (an underrated player, IMO) and Ronnie Brewer. Considering the absence of Rose had Rondo going crazy, that's all we needed from them. Stop the rest of the players from stepping up in his absence.

7. I love Carlos "The Bruiser" Boozer. He is an absolute throwback at the PF position. At 6'9", 260+ he's not going to jump over you but he will, and does, put a body on you. Can't leave him alone from mid-range, can't stop him inside either. Love him.

8. As much as I love Boozer, I hate Noah. He works hard, I'll give him that, but his attitude deserves an elbow to the chops. And what's with that sissy bun he wears his hair in? He wants to play smashmouth until somebody smashes him back and then he whines like a little beeyatch. His shooting technique wants to make me puke. Hey kids! If you're watching this at home, DON'T shoot like Noah.

9. Our lack of height was obvious again, with Noah and Asik getting offensive rebounds. Still, overall, I'm pleased with our effort and results. We outrebounded them 44-42. One could say "Of course we did, they only shot 39%, so that creates a lot of rebounds", and that's true, but as we saw with Indiana and in other games just because they miss doesn't mean they don't get offensive rebounds and second shots. Noah (barf) and Taj Gibson excelled on the O-glass, and Asik did very well too, but we contained Boozer and others, and that's ok with me.

Right now, we need to win. Win pretty, win ugly, just win. Maintain, or perhaps gain, on our playoff seeding and using the rest of the season to integrate newbies like Wilcox, Bass, JJJ, Moore.

A long rest, with our next game against the 8-21 (probably 8-22, after Tuesday's game against San Antone) Detroit in Boston on Wednesday. Lots of naps and practice should be on the agenda. If this was a regular 82-game season, would we get 3 days off like this?

bob

.

Bob,

I pretty much agree with your post top to bottom. Nothing to add; just thought I would say so.

Regards

NYCelt,

Thanks,

bob

.

112288 wrote:Bob,

Wow I guess you have very little faith in Celtic D to say these 2 guys would drop 40 on us! But then again we used that strategy with Wilt when we allowed him to score and the rest of the team scored nothing and we would win.

112288

112288,

Rose can drop 25 on anybody anytime and Rip could easily add 15.

bob

.

bob

.