POST GAME JAZZ

GAME STATS

REBOUNDS - CELTICS 37 /JAZZ 44.....Offensive - CELTICS 8 /JAZZ 15 ......Defensive - CELTICS 29/JAZZ 29
POINTS IN THE PAINT - CELTICS 28 /JAZZ 44
FAST BREAK POINTS - CELTICS 17 / JAZZ 13
FG - CELTICS - 41/86 (47.7 %) JAZZ 39/88 (44.3 %)
3PM - CELTICS 10/27 (37 %) JAZZ 8/17 ( 47.1%)
FTM - CELTICS 18/20 ( 90%) JAZZ 21/24 (87.5 %)
TO - CELTICS 12 / JAZZ 13
ASSISTS - CELTICS 19 / JAZZ 23
STL - CELTICS 8 / JAZZ 6
BLK - CELTICS 5 / JAZZ 6
PF - CELTICS 24 / JAZZ 19
BENCH POINTS - CELTICS 24 / JAZZ 53
TOTAL TEAM TURNOVERS (Points off turnovers) – CELTICS 13 (15 /JAZZ 15 (21)

NEXT GAME FRIDAY - HOME - GOLDEN STATE - 7:30PM CSNE/NBA LEAGUE PASS


POST GAME RECAP

ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid Reaction: C's 110, Jazz 107 (OT)

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Utah Jazz 110-107 in overtime on Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Paul Pierce flirted with a triple-double, putting up 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds and it was his offensive heroics in overtime that helped Boston escape with a gritty win to close out a grueling five-game road trip. Kevin Garnett added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Avery Bradley carried the offense early, scoring a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting before deferring to the vets. Six of Boston's nine players finished in double-digits for scoring. Gordon Hayward scored a team-high 26 points on 7-of-16 shooting for Utah, while old friend Al Jefferson finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

TURNING POINT: PIERCE WORKS OVERTIME
The Celtics were playing their 10th overtime game of the season and 15th overtime session overall. After a rocky road trip, Pierce wouldn't let this one get away, scoring seven straight points -- starting with a go-ahead 3-pointer and following with two tough jumpers -- as Boston opened a 106-101 cushion and held on (only exhaling after Randy Foye's open look at a 3-pointer fell short at the buzzer).

A GAME OF RUNS
The Jazz put together a 17-2 burst in the second quarter while turning a seven-point deficit into an eight-point lead (Hawyard doing much of the damage while connecting on 4-of-6 shots -- including a trio of 3-pointers -- while scoring 12 points in the frame). Down eight early in the third frame, Boston embarked on a 20-4 run with Bradley and Pierce kicking in seven points apiece as the Celtics opened a 70-62 lead. Dizzy yet? Hang on. The Jazz were still down eight entering the fourth quarter, but went on a 13-2 burst and a Hayward dunk had Utah on top 85-82 with 8:41 to play. The teams hopped on the seesaw from there.

OVERTIME ... AGAIN
With the game tied at 95, Pierce came off a little pick-and-roll, got his defender in the air, and splashed an 18-foot jumper for a 97-95 lead with 36 seconds to go. The Jazz got caught scrambling at the other end, but Alec Burks put in a left-handed layup in traffic to force another tie with 19.9 seconds to go. Pierce missed a long turnaround jumper at the buzzer to force the extra session. This game featured 13 lead changes and 17 ties.

TIGHTENING UP THE ROTATION
Needing a win to close out this trip and with plenty of rest looming, the Celtics essentially ran with an eight-man rotation (Jordan Crawford played 4:41 in the first half, but both Terrence Williams and Fab Melo were DNP -- Coach's Decisions). That's a playoff-like shortening of the rotation for Boston, which essentially utilized just three bench players (Chris Wilcox, Jason Terry, and Jeff Green).

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics wrap up their five-game road trip at 2-3 overall, but they'll take it, particularly heading home for some extended rest. Boston plays only one game (a Friday visit from Golden State) over the next seven days, though four of its next five games after that are on the road again. With a couple new faces (Williams and Crawford) and another one waiting in the wings (DJ White), Boston will get some much-needed practice time to integrate those players with the final 25 games of the regular season looming. For now, they'll savor a scrappy win with a vintage Pierce effort in the extra session. That'll make the flight home from Utah a little easier to endure.
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CSNE

Celtics finally tune out Jazz in OT, 110-107

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

SALT LAKE CITY — Avery Bradley was having a great night for the Boston Celtics.

Jason Terry and Chris Wilcox had played valuable minutes off the bench.

And Kevin Garnett was, well, Kevin Garnett.

But when the game mattered most - the final seconds - everyone at EnergySolutions Arena the knew the Celtics would turn to Paul Pierce.

The Captain couldn't come through in regulation, but he more than made up for it in overtime in leading the C's to a 110-107 win.

Boston's Courtney Lee made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds to play that at worst, positioned the Celtics for a second overtime.

Following a Utah time-out, a desperation heave beyond the 3-point line by Randy Foye was well short of the rim as time expired.

Pierce finished with a team-high 26 points with seven coming in overtime.

With the win, Boston (30-27) ends what has been a disappointing road trip on a high note with the Celtics having won two of their last three games.

As important as Pierce, Bradley and company were in keeping the Celtics afloat, it was Utah's Gordon Hayward that breathed life into the Jazz.

Gordon, who apparently is still on the mend from a shoulder injury, came off bench to score a team-high 26 points with an array of jumpers, driving lay-ups and 3-pointers.

He positioned the Jazz to lead most of the night.

After a 3-point play by Brandon Bass tied the game at 84, Pierce later put the C's ahead 87-85.

Utah tied the game at 87, only for Pierce to put the C's back on top with a pair of free throws, 89-87, with 6:16 to play.

Both teams went back and fourth early in the first, with Bradley carrying the scoring load by scoring Boston's first six points, eight of their first 11 and 10 of the team's first 15.

His scoring was needed to counter a strong start by Paul Millsap who had eight points in less than seven minutes of action.

As the quarter wore on, the C's bench seemed ready to provide a much-needed energy lift.

Sparking their play was Jason Terry, whose three-point, two-rebound, one-assist performance in the first quarter did not do justice to the impact his presence made on the game.

But the Jazz haven't been one of the best teams at home all these years simply by having an arena full of fans cheering them on.

They have multiple weapons who can impact the game in many ways, including Hayward who is one of Doc Rivers' favorite players.

"My staff laughs, they say I have a man crush (on Hayward)," Rivers said prior to the game. "I just like the way he plays. He's a rugged kid, with skill and IQ. He's athletic. He's a terrific player."

And it didn't take Hayward to back up all Rivers' compliments with a strong showing off the Utah bench.

Boston pulled ahead by as many as seven points in the second quarter before a 3-pointer by Hayward sparked a 17-2 Jazz run to them ahead 44-36.

The Celtics managed to string together a slew of defensive stops with a few timely baskets to tie the game at 44.

As was the case in Boston's loss at Portland on Sunday, the C's struggled to close out quarters again.

With the score tied at 44 with 1:59 to play in the half, Utah finished the second quarter with a 9-4 spurt to lead, 53-48 at the half.
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WEEI 93.7 FM

HAPPY FLIGHT: PAUL PIERCE, CELTICS KNOCK OFF JAZZ IN OVERTIME 02.26.13 at 12:08 am ET

The Celtics bounced back from a loss in Portland on Sunday night to close out a challenging five-game Western Conference swing with a victory in Utah, claiming a 110-107 win in overtime against the Jazz. Paul Pierce broke a 99-99 tie with a 3-pointer, the first of his three consecutive baskets in overtime that left the Celtics in control of the game’s final minutes. Kevin Garnett added four points in overtime, and Courtney Lee helped to ice the game with a pair of free throws with one second left on the clock. Randy Foye‘s attempt to tie the game with a last second 3-pointer missed the mark, permitting the Celtics to close out their road trip with a 2-3 mark after their roadtrip to start the second half.

The strong overtime period continued a roller coaster second half that saw the Celtics outscore the Jazz, 32-19, in the third quarter, only to see the Jazz go on a 13-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter that gave Utah an 85-82 lead. However, the Celtics recovered in time to send the game into overtime in a 97-97 deadlock. Though Pierce missed a chance to give Boston the win when he missed a turnaround jumper at the end of regulation, he made up for the miss by taking over in overtime.

Pierce led the Celtics with 26 points while adding seven rebounds and eight assists. Garnett added 13 points and 10 boards, while Avery Bradley tallied 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 26 points.

112288

Must needed win....but their 10th OT games is piling up interest like the National Debt. Payment in inkind will be due forthcoming unless unless the older players log less minutes the Rest of the way.

Dboss

This game was much like the Portland game....as I felt it was right there for the Celtics to win all night long. Unlike the Blazers game, Utah went cold down the stretch and their inability to defend the pick and roll and Pierce getting hot was the difference.

This was one of those nights that I was a bit confused by Doc and his decision making.

-Why didnt he try Terence Williams on Hayward when he was so hot. He is too big for Lee to cover - and putting Green on him takes away a rebounder that they need down low. Didnt get that.

-Why didnt he run more clear outs for Jeff Green? Seems like his play calling sent Green back into the corner to shoot 3s - which he is ok at, but nearly as good as when the floor is spread and he gets the ball up top with room to work.

-Why didnt he get Jordan Crawford in the game and run some plays for him? The kid is a good scorer - but is a volume shooter. You cant give him two shots, and then sit him down again and expect to get anything out of him.

-Why was he playing Chris Wilcox and KG at the same time for so long to start the 4th? This just meant that he had to sit BOTH of them at the same time, leaving Green and Bass to cover Favors and Jefferson. Two bad match ups for the C's

They easily could have won in Portland - and should have won in Denver as well. This was a trip that could have been different. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the OT. Damn. A great 32-19 3rd quarter, coming back from 5 down at the half, almost got wasted. I thought we were up shit creek when I saw us turn into a bunch of jumpshooters in the 4th. One sequence we had Pierce taking 2 3s and Bass, who had nobody between him and the rim and took an 8' jumpshot (and missed) instead of dribbling once and slamming it. The Jazz, on the other hand, had Hayward driving and Jefferson working the low post. They were trying to get closer to the basket, while we were trying to stay as far away from it as we could. Normally, NOT a recipe for success.


1. I was thinking that the Celtics were going to lose the game because Pierce was in one of his "3 happy" zones. They're like peanuts to him, he just can't stop. Can't argue with the results, I suppose. 20 of his points came in the 2nd half and 7 of the 13 points in OT. He took a couple of very hard, tough, physically punishing charges. The Captain really gave his body up last night. He should have gotten another one on Hayward, except the ref called a mickey mouse call on KG first. Did you see the look on Hayward's face after he saw the call? He knew that Pierce had him and he got lucky. The refs were awful last night, both ways.

2. I really do like Gordon Hayward, though. We ooh and aah about Jeff Green's versatility because he's 6'9" and can play 3 and 4. Well Hayward is 6'9" and can play 2 and 3. With 26 points, he single-handedly outscored out entire bench and was a major catalyst in every Jazz run. Unfortunately, he is the cornerstone and future franchise player of the Utah Jazz. The only way to get him in green would be to pry him out of Jazz owner Larry Miller's cold dead fingers. Even Green had trouble guarding him, despite the better physical matchup. Bradley and Lee had no chance.

3. Bradley came out like a house on fire. He had 12 points, 2 steals, 2 assists and 2 rebounds in the first half. He was a real pest on D too, as usual. We see so many games from him where he's shooting 3-9 and 4-10 and such, it's nice to see one where he has his shooting stroke flowing easily and he shoots 8-12, almost all of them from distance, and 2-3 from 3. I also like to see a young guy like him have the sense of urgency about winning this game.

4. Courtney Lee was getting called on a lot of crap and his offense didn't start up until the 3rd quarter, but then he scored well. He is a very steady, unflappable pro.

5. Brandon Bass was aggressive and was rewarded for it. 7-7 from the line. He had a lot of trouble defending Paul Millsap, who started the game like Bradley did, but Millsap eventually cooled down and Bass just kept doing his thing and going to the line to make them pay.

6. Not an effective night for Jeff Green. Didn't guard people well, didn't explode on offense. He's lucky he's playing for Doc and not some other coach, otherwise he'd have been pulled off the floor after that absolutely brain dead attempted pass between a Jazz player's legs (which was easily intercepted) and then compounding it with a half-hearted, half-assed attempt at drawing a charge at the other end, for a blocking foul.

7. Crawford played 5 minutes and T-Will never took off his warmups, despite this being the 2nd game of a back-to-back. Loss of confidence by Doc, or just Doc wanting to make damn sure we won and knowing we'll have a couple of days off before we play again on Friday, so he played his "playoff roster"?

8. Kenyon Martin can breathe easily today. His replacement for the Dumbest Player in the NBA has been found, and his name is Derrick Favors. Another physically gifted player searching for a second brain cell he can rub against the one he has for warmth.

9. We were 18-20 from the line. That's big because those are not empty possessions. We were 10-27 from 3, which is a nice 37% (an 56.5% effective field goal percentage), but that's too many 3s for my liking. Once again, I probably shouldn't complain, given the final score. Six Celtics in double figures, vs 4 for Utah.


Naps. Everybody needs to take a lot of naps the rest of this week. The GSW are coming to town and they can/will run up a ton of points. A break is that Bogut is out indefinitely and they've been struggling with consistency since the all-star break. I, personally, cannot wait to see how well Bradley defends Stephen Curry. He is probably the best pure shooting point guard in the league. He needs very little daylight to get off a shot. Kyrie Irving can shoot lights out too, but he scores a lot on penetrations, while Curry is positively lethal from range. Klay Thompson is another lights out shooter. You cannot not fall off them, AT ALL, to help defend players in the paint. If you do, they will rain 3s on you like the NYK do. I always root for the green, but it will be fun watching my #1 team play my #2 team. I was hoping to see that in the Superbowl, but only got half my wish...



bob


.

Bobh,
Thanks for a good summary, as usual.
One thing I can't understand is Bass or, rather his mid-range jumper. Last year it was his bread and butter. This season I always cringe when he shoots it, especially when he's completely open.
As for PP, he was "in the zone", kind of, last night. Carried the team in the second half and OT. Maybe all those stupid 3-pt attempts and drives in the 1st half got him going...

AK

Doc's Take: 'Best win' of the year
February, 26, 2013
FEB 26
12:45
AM ET
By Greg Payne | ESPNBoston.com



Doc Rivers and the Celtics wrapped up their grueling five-game road trip on a high note in Utah.

Though a 2-3 mark isn't exactly what the Boston Celtics were hoping for out of a post-All-Star break five-game road trip, they ended things on a positive note with a 110-107 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz Monday night that head coach Doc Rivers dubbed the "best win of the year."

In a seesaw game that featured 17 ties and 13 lead changes, the Celtics were able to grind through their 10th overtime affair of the season and 15th overtime session overall, largely on the shoulders of Paul Pierce, who supplied seven of Boston's 13 points in the extra frame and 26 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists overall. Kevin Garnett added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Boston.

"Whatever that is, it was the best win, for me, of the year," Rivers told reporters. "Five games, seven nights, five different cities, three time zones, just changing time zones. To gut it out, go into overtime and still have enough to win -- it's funny, at the start of the overtime I told Brandon [Bass], 'Go in for Kevin [Garnett].' Kevin wouldn't let me. He said, 'No, no, I'm good.' I didn't believe that, but I kept him in and he was terrific. Paul down the stretch just carried us. We found something we liked in the pick-and-roll with the spacing, and if they helped out, Kevin got the elbow shot. If they didn't help, Paul turned the corner."

Rivers fully admitted that Monday's win won't go down as a glamorous one. The Celtics had to sink their heels in and force the issue defensively, often resorting to a zone defense that featured a trapping scheme that not even Rivers could fully explain.

"I thought we junked the game up," Rivers said. "You know I'm not a fan of that, but we did it. We went zone, we started trapping all around the floor. And I just thought our trap was so bad it was good, you know? We didn't know what we were doing and they didn't know what we were doing, and I thought it created confusion, and it worked. But I tell you, the trap that we were doing, we had no clue what we were doing. It literally caused confusion for both teams, and it was good for us."

Rivers was also quick to praise guard Avery Bradley, who carried the Celtics early with some hot shooting and some aggressive defense on Utah point guard Earl Watson. Bradley scored 10 of Boston's first 15 points, added two steals in the opening frame, and finished the game with a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

"I mean, Avery's had a great five games and forget whatever scoring. First of all, I thought to start the game, he gave us life with his scoring," Rivers said. "But I thought his defense as such a big factor. It took them so long to get into the set -- I mean, they were killing us in the beginning of the game on the post. So what we just said was, 'Guys, we're going to deny every catch, we're going to pressure the ball, and see how long before it takes for them to get to the post.' And it really helped us because we took so much clock off, they didn't have enough time to post us and that was good."

The Celtics had the final chance to prevent overtime, but their designed play for Kevin Garnett went awry early in the set, which forced Paul Pierce into a tough fading jump shot from the right wing that didn't drop.

"We were supposed to pin down on Kevin," Rivers explained. "Actually, I thought Paul could have turned the corner, but he was waiting for Kevin to come up, because we noticed on the small-small pick-and-roll the big was sinking in under the basket and if [Jason Terry] rolls into Kevin, Kevin rolls up to that elbow, his sweet spot, we thought we could have got it. I don't know if you noticed, JET fell off balance and then he just kind of forgot it. I still didn't mind. Paul had it and I just wanted to make sure we had the last shot."

Boston will happily settle for a grind-it-out victory, knowing it plays just one game over the next seven days. The Celtics will take Tuesday off before likely resuming things on Wednesday with some needed practice time and a chance to help integrate newer faces in Jordan Crawford, Terrence Williams, and -- eventually -- D.J. White.



bob


.

Bob and Mrkleen, I think Doc was smart not to give Crawford more minutes and not to give Williams any minutes. Since the beginning of the trip, the Celtics had pegged this as the toughest game; and Doc wanted experience on the floor, with the knowledge that rest was just around the corner.

If this little stretch without any games had not been coming up, there would have been more of a "baptism of fire" argument. But now they will have the luxury of (hopefully) a couple of good practices, which is a more desirable way to begin integrating the newcomers. It would be great if White can also participate in those practices.

Bass is having an interesting season. It seems as though he constantly has to remind himself to be more aggressive; sometimes it's more effective than others. He seems very conscious of the need to combat my greatest fear about him—that he will "type" himself as a one-trick pony on offense. Even though he's probably a below-average ball-handler, he seems to make a conscious effort to go to the hoop at least once or twice in most games; and I appreciate that effort, even when he occasionally loses the ball.

Obviously, Bass needs to improve his rebounding—especially on the defensive end, where he's unlikely to have to fill a lane in transition. But (and this may surprise some people) the Celtics already rank 12th in the league in defensive rebounding. Where they most need rebounding help is on offense, and Brandon is barely edged out by Wilcox as the team's best offensive rebounder per 36 minutes.

One thing I'm often guilty of is being too quick to criticize this team for being jumper-happy. I'm trying to restrain myself so that I get angry only when they're shooting
contested jumpers. An one hand, a lot of Celtics have good jump shots, and there are many times when an uncontested jumper is
preferable to a contested drive to the rim (especially against teams with bona fide shot-blockers). On the other hand, any player can be presented with an uncontested jumper if he ventures far enough from the basket; and guys like Bass and Garnett, in particular, have to guard against occasional tendencies to shoot from beyond their comfort zones.

Here's a trivia quiz. No fair checking the stats. What player who's a currently active Celtic ranks second on the team to KG in total rebounds per 36 minutes? Answer: Jordan Crawford (7.4). And that includes a "whopping" sample size of 34 minutes played as a Celtic.

Moreover, Terrence Williams, at 6.5 per 36 minutes in an even "whoppinger" 44 minutes, is in a group with Pierce and Bass vying for a ranking of #4 rebounder among active
team players.

As tongue-in-cheek as these stats for Crawford and Williams are presented, the apparent rebounding tendencies of these two guards can't hurt down the road.

By the way, Chris Wilcox gets my "unsung hero" award in this game. His 3 steals and 2 blocks in 21 minutes give only a hint of what he meant on the defensive end against a
team with a lot of length. People were asking why he didn't get more touches as he went for "only" 15 points in 39 minutes. I think KG, Wilcox and even Bass had something to do with denying him the ball and (sometimes with the help of double-teams) forcing him to get rid of the ball when he did get hold of it.

All things considered, this might be my pick as gutsiest game of the season for the Celtics. I'm thinking of sending each of them a miniature duck boat in celebration. Just the image of the team crouching on the locker room floor and playing "Duck Boats" would be a treat.

Sam

I love Paul Pierce. BUT......it is time to face the fact that they need to prime Jeff Green to become one of the primary GO TO guys. The kid stands there in the corner, passes the ball back out to Pierce when he should have gone up and slammed it himself, he gets lost out there! He is one of our best offensive threats on the floor.

They pulled this one off because Pierce was in one of his three point shooting moods and he was going to make one come hell to high water.

The only way this team will survive the rest of this year is to make the young guys become major contributors for the ENTIRE game, not just the first quarter or first half.

Rosalie

Paul Pierce has liked every shot he has seen.

Pierce got lucky and so did the Celtics. Pierce is just chucking balls up from 3 pt land hoping to beat the odds. I do not like this type of basketball being played and we will get burned by Pierce sooner then later. There were others open with easier shots that Pierce turned down to shoot and miss himself. We would not have gone into OT if he was not ball hogging. Perhaps it was Doc's orders.


112288

112288,

What bothers me most about Pierce these days is that, every time he has the ball in his hand as the clock winds down at the end of a quarter or a game, he doesn't start the play until there about six seconds left on the shot clock. It's simple mathematics. With six seconds left, there's only time for one play (barring a miraculous tip-in). All the well-entrenched defense has to do is to double Paul while also cheating in the passing lanes. Invariably, nothing good eventuates because Paul can't slash as he used to.

During the first half of the season, teammates were deferring too much to Rondo. Now they're deferring too much to Pierce. I'm not overlooking the fact that many plays are called by Doc, but that doesn't change the rhythmic interruption such exaggerated deference can cause.

I'm placing a lot of faith (probably much more than I should) in the next two practices to empower a broader number of Celtics players, especially in clutch situations. I just can't stand predictable offense, especially when it involves Rondo or Pierce standing on the perimeter.

Sam

If Pierce has a match up he can exploit I'm happy with Pierce taking it to him. Jazz had some kid Caroll on him, I like that match up, its not like he had Luol Deng or Lebron covering him. Jeff Green can play well when hes feeling it, Pierce can have a bad quarter or 2 and still fight and bounce back. Green has to fight through rough stretches harder, hes got so much talent and skill, if only he had Pierces balls.

sam wrote:112288,

What bothers me most about Pierce these days is that, every time he has the ball in his hand as the clock winds down at the end of a quarter or a game, he doesn't start the play until there about six seconds left on the shot clock. It's simple mathematics. With six seconds left, there's only time for one play (barring a miraculous tip-in). All the well-entrenched defense has to do is to double Paul while also cheating in the passing lanes. Invariably, nothing good eventuates because Paul can't slash as he used to.

During the first half of the season, teammates were deferring too much to Rondo. Now they're deferring too much to Pierce. I'm not overlooking the fact that many plays are called by Doc, but that doesn't change the rhythmic interruption such exaggerated deference can cause.

I'm placing a lot of faith (probably much more than I should) in the next two practices to empower a broader number of Celtics players, especially in clutch situations. I just can't stand predictable offense, especially when it involves Rondo or Pierce standing on the perimeter.

Sam

Maybe Pierce has been taking point-guard lessons from Rondo? (Or even more frightening, from Doc?)

Cow, Pierce doesn't like to give up his balls once he has his hands on them.

Sam,

That also drives my crazy...why wait for 1 shot with no ability to even get a rebound and score.

112288

worcester wrote:Cow, Pierce doesn't like to give up his balls once he has his hands on them.

We have to figure out how to place a "rim-shot" special effects button on here.

Here's the headline of a Jazz blogger said about the game:


Game 57 Jazz vs. Celtics: Well, at least half the arena went home happy


http://jazzfanatical.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/game-57-jazz-vs-celtics-well-at-least-half-the-arena-went-home-happy/


Welcome to Celtics Planet. It's amazing how many, AND LOUD!, Celtic fans are when we are on the road. You hear it a lot, especially in Atlanta.


bob


.

It was truly amazing listening to each and every arena they played in out on the west coast. There are tons of Celtic fans out there. This has to make the team feel great, knowing they are not out there on an island with no one rooting for them. I hope they listened!

bobheckler wrote:Here's the headline of a Jazz blogger said about the game:

Game 57 Jazz vs. Celtics: Well, at least half the arena went home happy

http://jazzfanatical.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/game-57-jazz-vs-celtics-well-at-least-half-the-arena-went-home-happy/

Welcome to Celtics Planet. It's amazing how many, AND LOUD!, Celtic fans are when we are on the road. You hear it a lot, especially in Atlanta.

Can you blame the poor fans in Atlanta? It ranks up there with Cleveland as a larger market bereft of championships. Atlanta was number 1 on the 2012 Forbes list of the most miserable sports cities.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2012/02/28/americas-most-miserable-sports-cities/

They have one lousy championship in 154 pro sports seasons. If you lived in Atlanta and had a connection with any other sports franchise, you'd hold onto it for dear life. The same goes for cities like Salt Lake that aren't big enough to support franchises for multiple major sports and have never won a title.

Cleveland ranks a mere eighth on Forbes' list because of their seven total championships, but their drought is 49 years and counting (since the 1964 Browns). Just think, the Celtics had more championships in a row (eight) than Cleveland has had in 225 pro sports seasons.

Outside,

At least the fans in Atlanta and Salt Lake City can take heart in knowing that there are more Celtics fans at their home games than used to attend Celtics home games back when the team was doing nothing but win championships.

I once asked Red what he thought was the reason for the poor Garden attendance, and he answered, "Simple. We win too much." Not that it stopped him from going all-out to win every game.

Sam

We often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics. Here’s a look at some enemy chatter from Utah.

(Alec) Burks, asked what it’s like to be playing against a star (Paul Pierce) having a great night:

He’s nobody to me, you know? He made some shots. Everybody make shots, you know? It’s just he got a bigger name than everybody else.

Living and Dying by the Jazz

You’d think Burks (#10) would be a bit more complimentary, considering he had a such a great view of Paul Pierce’s clutchness.

Maybe we are overreacting. All Pierce managed to do was score 13 pts on 5-9 shooting in the 4th quarter and OT.

Burks is only about 23,000 points behind Pierce - so clearly he knows what he is talking about.

Cowens:

If Green had Pierce's balls, Julie would be very sad & disappointed.

MD!

Cowens:

If Green had Pierce's balls, Julie would be very angry and disappointed.

MD!

PP usually gets ripped when he plays a bad game and deservedly so. Funny even when he plays well he gets ragged on relentlessly. I just don't understand. I read at BDC a lot and during game on threads it unbelievable the crap that is posted. One that comes to mind was a win by the C's, Pierce posts a triple double, and one poster proclaimed Pierce useless in the first half and many jumped on the bandwagon.

Let me help on the end of game shots where they start so late, and this is coming from Doc. Doc's main concern is he doesn't want the other team to get a shot at it - period. So in other words he wants the C's to get the last shot. Now we are trying to nit pick when Pierce gets his shot in a 1-3 second window with some other player all over him. I am sure Doc would rather see that than a shot with 4 seconds left, we miss, they call time out and have a chance for their game winner. There is a difference when we are behind or when we are the team with the lead.

Tardust, taking a shot with 1-3 seconds on the clock is understandable strategy at the end of tie games. But the real problem is the utter predictability of the shot. When Pierce starts pounding the ball into the floor outside the arc with 12-14 seconds left, every second that passes narrows the possible options for the shot, here's what
usually occurs:

• By the time 6-7 seconds are left, the opponents are pretty sure that Pierce is going to be the shooter, so they start to "cheat" a little in his direction.

• By the time 3-4 seconds are left, it's pretty evident where, on the floor, the shot's going to come from, so the opponents "cheat" toward that spot on the floor.

•
By the time the shot is taken with 1 or 2 seconds left, it's virtually never an open shot. More than likely, it's now a heavily contested, semi-desperation shot.

Occasionally Pierce makes that shot because he's a great player. But I would submit that (1) it's crazy to have one player pound the seconds away and wind up taking a
low-percentage shot; (2) it would be much less predictable to have the ball moving while waiting to start the final play; and (3) it would be far better to vary the identity of the player who will take the shot.

Just watch other teams. They often pass the ball around and frequently catch someone going to the hoop for an easy two or a foul. On a few teams (Lakers? Heat? Maybe Oklahoma City? )it's pretty obvious who's going to take the shot. Much more often than not, it's not so obvious.

Celtics' end-of-quarter shots drive Heinsohn nuts too, and he's a hall-of-fame-nominated coach, to say nothing of his playing experience. He really sounded off on it a
couple of games ago. "Start the play earlier. Give yourself a chance for an offensive rebound. Have a little confidence in your defense."

He happened to be talking about an end-of-quarter play, not an end-of-game play, and end-of-quarter players were uppermost in my mind when I made my earlier comment. At the end of a tie game, I can understand not wanting to give the opponent even 0.9 second to call time and move the ball into their forecourt, although that has nothing to do with the ill-advised predictability of the play, and it's different when the Celtics are ahead or behind. But what happens in the majority of Celtics end-of-quarter plays is that the Celtics come up dry or occasionally luck out with a semi-spectacular shot.

The Celtics are a team of scorers. Every single rotation player on the team scores in double figures per 36 minutes. Diversifying the identity of the player who's going to take the last shot (whether during the game or at the end of the game), in addition to reducing the predictability of the shot, this would invest each player with a greater sense of "ownership" in the results.

Sam