POST GAME SPURS

If basketball is a game of runs, then this one should go into the history books. We're talking BIG runs, long runs, by both the Spurs (twice) and the Celtics. The Spurs had a 27 point 1st quarter followed by a 32 point 2nd quarter. In other words, we didn't adjust well. After going down by the dreaded 17 points at one point, the Celtics showed a lot of ganas and stormed back.

Statistically, we won this game except for the only statistic that counts and that's the final score. Another reason why stats can confirm what you thought you saw, but can't tell you the game. San Antonio is not a great defensive team anymore, they are an efficient offensive team. They shot 42% yesterday. They only took 11 fta. They only had 17 assists. They had 17 turnovers. The final score was 87-86. That's our type of game, not theirs, our pace.

1. Game high scorer, both teams, Avery Bradley with 19 points. With players like Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili on the floor, did you ever think you'd hear that? A very efficient 9-16 night. And why not? Most of his shots come within 2' of the rim. This kid might be one of the best, if not THE best, back cutter in the league. You take your eyes off him, even for a split second, at your own peril. I love the way his first thought is to always go to the hoop. Rondo made a fantastic steal off a Spur rebound and who went immediately to the front of the rim for the pass and a layup? Avery Bradley. I mentioned on the Game On thread that it was like Bird and DJ. Bird made the steal, but it was DJ who went to the hoop. I'm really starting to love this kid's instincts. If I was an opposing defensive coach, I'd tell my guy "open up your stance so you always have him in your vision, but if you do turn do not turn so he can get behind you baseline. Force him to the middle". It doesn't matter who starts the game, what matters is who finishes, right? Well, the lineup on the floor at the end of the game was Rondo, Bradley, Allen, Pierce and KG. More on that later.

2. Ray Allen didn't have a good scoring game. Yes, he hit a big 3 near the end, but if he had even a decent game we wouldn't have needed it. As usual, though, he did other things. 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. It's going to take some time for him to get his rhythm back and to re-integrate him into the starting lineup. A couple more points than 5 would have been helpful last night though. Man-to-man, Daniel Green ate him up.

3. Rondo outplayed Tony Parker. Not only did he out-assist him badly (11 vs 2) he outscored him. Considering Parker is a very good shooter, that's amazing. Rondo's 4 steals were completely disruptive too. The steal I referred to was extremely athletic, snaring an outlet pass from Gary Neal in his web-like Gecko hands and then seeing Bradley doing what he does so well, going to the front of the iron.

3. KG hit his first 2 shots and then went 1-5 for the rest of the 1st quarter. I don't blame KG for taking them, you have to take your shot when you have them, I blame Rondo and Doc for continuing to run the same play for KG when it was obvious he was cold. Run the same play for someone else. Run a different play to KG, one where he gets an easier, closer-in shot, to rebuild his rhythm. This cold spell put us in a hole in the 1st quarter, a hole we spent almost the entire rest of the game to dig out of. Sam opined, on the Game On thread, that you don't want to move away from a player just because he's cold, because then you're playing 4-on-5. Well, 4-on-5 can still be effective, look at the highly efficient Celtic offense of 2008 with Perk playing center, but feeding an ice-cold shooter isn't. Just a difference of opinion.

4. The Spurs starting 5 aren't what the used to be. Tony Parker isn't and The Big Fundamental certainly isn't. Nevertheless, Duncan grabbed 16 rebounds, 4 offensive, including some very big offensive boards late.

5. The Spurs bench, however, looks good. Manu Ginobili, the Argentinean flopper, is now coming off the bench for Pop as is future Oakland murder suspect, Stephen Jackson. Both of them are former, legitimate starting players. Hear that, Doc and Ray? Matt Bonner is a pain-in-the-ass. He only really has 1 shot, and that's a 3, but he's good at them and he drags the defense way out. He also got 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. Gary Neal can shoot'em too and who the hell is this Tiago Splitter? A 6'11", 27 year old Brazilian rookie? Taking it to KG?

6. Steamer played 8 minutes. I don't understand that, especially considering how well Steamer has been playing lately. Doc went small-ball last night. In my opinion, that cost us. We got killed on the offensive boards in the couple of minutes because our PF was Paul Pierce. Pop is throwing Duncan, Bonner and Splitter at us and Doc only played our only other legit 5 eight minutes?

7. Another solid game by Sasha. With momentum going the wrong way, he started off the 2nd quarter with a 3 and a steal for a dunk. He played his usual sticky, physical defense too.

8. Dooling turned back into a pumpkin. Well, I let him out of the doghouse, so I gotta give him another shot to show that this was another aberration and not a relapse. Then again, he played against a good team last night, not Minnesota.

9. Bass played 29 minutes. He played very good defense last night, forget about his stats. I don't understand why Doc didn't have him in the lineup the last minute. How could Doc expect KG and Pierce to defend the boards against Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner?

10. We shot 6-13 from the line. 6-13. We hit 8-13 (still under 62%) and we win. Shaking my head at this...

11. We got outrebounded 53-39. That's ridiculous, but understandable. That's one of the risks you take with small-ball. 12 of their rebounds were offensive.

What pissed me off about this game is that with 2 minutes left to play we had a 2 point lead and then closed out the game like a young lottery team. What pisses me off is that their Championship team out-executed in crunch time and our Championship team didn't. Paul Pierce with a quick, unnecessary 3 that missed. Rondo with a quick, unnecessary 17' jump shot that missed. Rondo and KG playing cute and letting the ball dribble up court without touching it so clock doesn't start and then KG picks it up and immediately throws an 8' turnover pass because he was passing to a spot on the floor and not looking first and seeing that Pierce was double-teamed. Empty, poorly executed possessions that San Antonio used to come back down and score off of. Hero ball. Hero ball misses, hero ball loss. Yes, I know Ray hit that big 3 which gave us life, but we shouldn't have been in that position. Instead of being up 6-8 we were down 4 and needing a Ray Allen dagger to make a buzzer-beating Pierce hero ball miss even relevant.

The good news is that Toronto pulled off an upset in Philly and we maintained our lead over the Sixers. Embarrassing free throw shooting, horrible 1st half defense and crunch-time hero ball cost us the opportunity to put some distance between us and the Sixers, with Chicago tonight and Indiana on Saturday and Philly at home on Sunday.

Hanging on by our fingernails to the #4 slot.

bob

.

sam wrote:Bob,

Playing 4 on 5 is a completely position when KG is involved rather than Perk. The Celtics system incorporating Perk didn't depend on him for offense. The current Celtics system depends on KG for offense. Moving away from him just because he was shooting 3 for 7 in the first quarter (a basket on his next shot and he'd be at the 50% mark) would disrupt a major element in the system and, in fact, would put added pressure on him to produce.

Good basketball coaches don't micro-manage to the extent that their players are constantly looking over their shoulders every time they have a little bad run. Especially not with a cornerstone of the franchise who has been their MVP for quite a while now. You go to your best, and if that doesn't work out on one occasion, it will most likely work out on the next several occasions. You play the law of averages, and the odds are greatly in your favor.

This would be a good question to mail to Heinsohn. My very strong expectation would be that he's wretch at the idea of abandoning a struggling star rather than doing everything possible to help him stop struggling. As you very correctly said on the Game-on Thread, sometimes something as simple as making one layup can propel the player on a nice little run.

I do think it was proper for Doc to lace into his players (presumably including KG) for settling for jumpers. It's a shame that they took so long to act on that message.

If KG deserved a real dressing-down last night, it would have been for that egregious sideline turnover which disrupted the Celtics' momentum at the worst possible time. I suspect KG beat himself up well beyond the required degree on that one.

Sam

sam,

Sure, I'll try and get Tommy to answer this. How would you suggest I ask the question, considering there won't be an opportunity for a follow-up question or request for further clarity?

How about:
"If a key player, like KG, were to go ice-cold from the field would you run plays for other players, run a different play for him or keep feeding him in the same spot until he starts hitting again?"

bob

.