POST GAME DETROIT

Celtic Fans this is certainly a Doctor Jekyell and Mr. Hyde Team. Wow what team will show on a given night. This team will be an enigma come playoff time. I do not know what to expect.

I would say that this was a veterans loss. It just seems like the Celtic veterans cannot get up for lousy teams. Case in point Toronto, Cleveland, New Orleans. I guess everyone was looking ahead to tomorrow in Chicago.

Rondo put up big numbers tonight 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 35 points but it could be a continuation of a fire built under his rear end by the press. Ray Allen, 1-6 from the field with 10 quiet points, and Paul Pierce 3-12 from the field, 1 rebound and 5 assists. Ugly.

Don't look now but the Knick's have won 7 in a row and breathing on our backs.

Remember Chicago Tomorrow 8PM TNT

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GAME RECAP WEEI 850


FAST BREAK: NOT ENOUGH HORSEPOWER FOR C’S AGAINST PISTONS
By Ben Rohrbach


BOSTON — Rajon Rondo scored a career-high 35 points, but only four of those came in the fourth quarter, when the Pistons built a 13-point lead the Celtics couldn’t erase in a 98-88 defeat — their third loss in four games.

Rodney Stuckey (25), Greg Monroe (22) and Ben Gordon (22) all exceeded 20 points for the Detroit (9-22), with Gordon’s 12 fourth-quarter points delivering the knockout blow.

Rondo’s 35 points came on 15-of-27 field goals and came with six assists and five rebounds as the C’s drop to 15-13. While Kevin Garnett (hip) missed his first game of the season, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen didn’t show up either, combining for just 20 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Where’s the Truth: Thrown off by Bill Russell‘s presence courtside or just plain having an off night, Pierce looked as though his mind was elsewhere. He finished just 3-of-11 from the field, and while he didn’t record a turnover in 37 minutes, he seemed to juggle the ball each time he touched it and generally be a step behind in the early going.

JO vs. Monroe: Returning from a two-game absence, Celtics center Jermaine O’Neal (knee) appeared overmatched at times by the younger, left-handed Greg Monroe (22 points, 11-14 FG, 9 rebounds). Of course, it didn’t help that O’Neal picked up five fouls in his first 18 minutes on the floor.

What the Stuckey? As Rondo’s point total increased, lost in the shuffle was Rodney Stuckey, who totaled 25 points (including 11-11 FT), four assists and three rebounds. He led four Pistons in double figures and helped keep Detroit in a game they had no business hanging around for three quarters, let alone pulling away in the fourth quarter.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Rondo from the get-go: After almost every basket he scored in the first quarter, Rondo shot a look to the Celtics bench. Let’s just say he eyed the bench quite a bit. The point guard finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with a pair of assists in the opening 12 minutes. His effort helped stake the Celtics to a 28-26 lead at the first break when most of his teammates started slowly.

Forward momentum: With Kevin Garnett sidelined this time, replacements Chris Wilcox (17 points, 9 rebounds) in the starting lineup and JaJuan Johnson (10 points, 5 rebounds) off the bench once again ate up minutes in the middle with a degree of effectiveness. The two athletic bigs also provide Rondo with a running mate on the fast break, where the Celtics owned a 18-14 advantage.

Lining them up: Is there any truth to the rumor Doc Rivers read Wednesday morning’s Irish Coffee? By halftime, Ray Allen had already attempted a season-high nine free throws (making and the Celtics as a team had exceeded their season average (19. with 21 by the break. Of course, making their foul shots was a different issue entirely, as they finished 19-of-32 from the line. Outside of Allen, the rest of the team went 11-of-23.

Announcer Mike Gorman put it best; Disappointing.

He must have repeated the word 6 times.

Was at the game and this one felt all wrong from the beginning. A lot like the Lakers game and the first Cleveland game - very winnable game against opponents who the Celtics are better than.

1) KG not being in the line up changes the entire intensity dynamic. Pierce and Allen were sleep walking and Rondo had no choice but to try and kick start things. The only on running with him was Wilcox...who played a great game.

2) JJJ is a really good young offensive players and he knows his angles on the defensive end, but he really needs to get stronger. He was totally manhandled on the boards by the Pistons bigs.

3) Team really misses Bass as well. There was no output off the bench at all.

Another weak effort against a team you should be happy to see come to town. Hey, at least the beer was cold and the seats were good.

Mrkleen,

What was Doc's reaction/body language on the side lines?

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Doc was pretty much playing the hand he was dealt. As bad as they played, they were in the game most of the way.

He had no KG, no Bass, no Marquis, a limited JON, a limited Pietrus....so yeah, he didnt have too many answers.

The officials were terrible for both sides. Both teams were upset all night, so he basically stopped complaining after a while.

Thanks, That is what I assumed. It was a game that you look to Heaven shake your head and just sit and watch.

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This is lethal for any type of forecasted hoped for success for this team. The schedule until now has been front-loaded with many home games. Now the C's must hit the road for the better part of 2-3 weeks. The team is having trouble winning at the Garden, who's to say they can instantly turn into Road Warriors (no reference to Hawk & Animal, the wrestlers) I'm sorry Bill Russell had to see the 4th quarter collapse also.

MD!

What the hell is going on here? The Pistons suck. They played hard the night before against SAS and lost and were going up against a well-rested, albeit short-staffed, Celtics on the road. They had a 3-11 road record coming in last night. These guys should have been duck soup. Instead, our starters, as a unit, sucked. Only Rondo and Wilcox are excepted.

1. I can't remember the last time I've seen a point guard post his man up as much as Rondo posted his up last night. DJ would do it once in a while, but he was 6'4" and strong. Magic did it once in a while, but not that much since it wasn't their normal offensive set and he was 6'9" anyway. Rondo was posting up Stuckey, Knight and Bynum almost every sequence down the floor. They didn't want to double him, fearing his passing, and he just ate his guys up. Career-high 35 points, and yet, a -2 differential and most of it in the first 3 quarters. More on that later.

2. Chris Wilcox was the only other starter who showed up to play. He and Rondo had it going. Wilcox would either lead the fast break, outrunning his man for a stuff or surprisingly athletic layups or he would trail the fastbreak and cleanup Rondo's miss. Another outstanding game for Wilcox, starting in place of KG. I have nothing but good things to say about Wilcox's game last night. Unfortunately, he's the last Celtic I can say that about.

3. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen's combined boxscore is 4-16 for 20 points (with 12 of those 20 points coming from the line), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks, 2 turnovers. But believe me, they looked, and contributed less, than those numbers suggest. Pierce, in particular, looked lost out there. I know that Prince plays him particularly tough, but damn...Ray couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the edge of the pier, but he rebounded and passed, but we need more than that from the best shooter in the history of the NBA.

4. JON gives up his body on defense. He steps up to take charges (and in a few examples last night weren't given ones he deserved) but other than that he was useless. Can't hit open jumpers. I mean, WIDE open jumpers. Hard to believe I'm saying this, but Perk's offense was better.

5. I said yesterday that this game could be an epiphany or a moral disaster for our younger players tonight. If it was an epiphany it is that they're not ready. JJJ blew numerous defensive assignments, allowing his man to slash to the hoop because he was distracted elsewhere. He blasted a shot into the 3rd row, near where Russell was sitting. Too bad he didn't "do a Russell" and gently tap it to a teammate. His stat line looks pretty impressive: 5-11 for 5 rebounds and a block, but, as we all know, those stats don't reflect defense. His was not good, not his man-to-man defense, where he was either backed down or forgot about his man. JJJ ended up with a -15. Granted, that's really a "unit differential", since there are other players out there you have to play with, and not an individual one but he played with Ray and Pierce and other starters a lot. Bradley blew numerous defensive assignments allowing Ben Gordon, who was the hottest hand on the court, open 3s. Those 3s broke our backs in the 4th. Doc was getting on Bradley in the huddle for leaving Gordon. Steamer got schooled by Monroe. A real eye opener last night. Not just for them but for those of us who have been calling for them to play significant minutes. We keep forgetting how complex Doc's playbook is and that there are good reasons why rookies sit a lot.

6. Greg Monroe is a helluva player. An outstanding passer for a big man, and he has good moves around the basket too. Detroit has something with him. He was credited with only one assist, but that's because many of his passes weren't finished with a basket, but with a Celtic foul. 22 points on 11-14 shooting and 9 ribbies. He's an up-and-comer. Speaking as a lefty, I never understood how opposing players didn't recognize that quickly and force me to go to my offhand. I guess we get into this mental rut where we just assume the ball is always going to come up from the right and don't adjust. We didn't do that with Monroe last night and his shooting % shows it. He rolled left all night.

7. Ben Wallace came off the bench for 16 minutes and got 11 rebounds, 3 of them offensive and 2 assists. He never could do much more than rebound and block shots, but he still can do that, even on his last legs. Lesson to be learned here, Steamer. You have the blocking shots part, now you need the rebounding part.

8. We shot 19-32 (59%) from the line. 59%. That's disgraceful anywhere above the Jr. High School level. I can't even remember the last time we took that many ftas and we wasted them. We shoot 75%, that's 5 more points. Detroit, on the other hand, was 24-29 (83%). We had more fta, but they got the points we should have gotten. We can't blame old age here. We can't blame fatigue from a compressed season here. This is just individual lack of focus.

9. They outscored us 25-16 in the 4th quarter. Rondo, who had been unstoppable to that point, replaced Bradley with 8:26 left in the 4th. He then went 1-4 from the field, 2-4 from the line and an assist in the remaining 8:26 minutes. As amazing as he was in the 1st 3 quarters he was that amazingly absent in the 4th quarter. This isn't the first time we've seen this. If you look at the play-by-play for that same period for Detroit you see a lot of "Ben Gordon hits 3ptr" or "Player A makes layup, Player B assists". Ray Allen, in particular, was ineffective during this stretch. Basically, Ray made 8-9 free throws and that was his offense.

10. Detroit is the #28 team in the league in rebounding. Boston is #29. Detroit outrebounded us 44-33. How bad is that?

11. In general, our defense in the 4th was dumb. Bradley, Allen and Rondo leave Gordon alone at the 3pt line, but they rotate to cover Ben Wallace at the 3pt line? Just because that's what the scheme says you should do, you have to be cognizant of the individual players and what they are good and not good at and Ben Wallace is no threat outside of dunk range. In fact, he got an offensive rebound about 6' away from the rim and passed it out. Gordon, on the other hand, was in a zone and we'd rotate away from him on the weak side and he made us pay.

NOT the way you want to begin a long, grueling month of road trips starting tonight in Chicago.

bob

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To NYCELT:

Accurate observation of the verbage from Mike Gorman. Mike is very affable and tries to put the best construction on everything and minimizes Celtic tribulations as much as possible. He is, however a commited electronic journalist who is truthful with his observations. His selection of "Disappointing" was accurate. I wish we had more politicians like Mike Gorman & Doc Rivers. Then we would have honest caring souls who put the needs of the people first, and not smokescreens composed of smoke & mirrors. Mike & Doc would abolish the Matrix Effect.


MD!