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Rapid Reaction: Celtics 108, Bucks 100

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 108-100 on Tuesday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Jordan Crawford scored a team-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting (4-of-7 beyond the 3-point arc) as Boston put six players in double figures, including all five starters. Jeff Green scored 18 points, while Brandon Bass (16 points, 9 rebounds) and Jared Sullinger (12 points, 8 rebounds) aided Boston's offensive outburst. Courtney Lee, back after missing two games with a sore left knee, scored 11 points in 16 minutes off the bench. OJ Mayo scored a team-high 19 points for Milwaukee.

TURNING POINT
The Celtics were clinging to a four-point, fourth-quarter lead after Giannis Antetokounmpo finished an alley-oop with 11 ½ minutes to play. Crawford scored the game's next five points (following a 3-pointer with a short fadeaway). Lee accounted for Boston's next seven points before Crawford hit another 3-pointer to put the Celtics out front 84-71 with 8:21 to play. The Lee/Crawford-sparked outburst saw Boston score 15 points in little more than three minutes while building a 13-point lead. But Milwaukee wouldn't go quietly ...

FENDING 'EM OFF AT THE FINISH
The Bucks made it a one-possession game twice in the final five minutes, including with only 70 seconds to play. Milwaukee swarmed Boston ball-handlers at the other end and Sullinger got trapped on the baseline as the shot clock wound down. Unfazed, he dribbled toward the free-throw line and splashed a little, clock-beating step-back jumper for a 101-96 lead with 45 seconds to go.

YOU'LL SEE THESE ON SPORTSCENTER
The Celtics had two Top 10 nominees during the first half of Tuesday's game. First, Avery Bradley channeled Larry Bird when he corralled an offensive rebound drifting out of bounds and made an arcing shot from behind the backboard. Later, Gerald Wallace turned back the clock while storming the lane and delivering a vicious one-handed jam that left Boston's bench spilling all over itself in celebration.

LOOSE BALLS
Boston shot 49.4 percent overall (38-of-77) and 45.8 percent beyond the 3-point arc (11-of-24). ... Keith Bogans and MarShon Brooks were healthy DNPs. ... Kelly Olynyk missed his sixth straight game due to a sprained right ankle. ... Caron Butler did not play for Milwaukee because of a sore left knee.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics improved to 8-12 and sit atop the Atlantic Division standings. Boston gets two days off before hosting the Denver Nuggets on Friday (a rare national TV game on ESPN). It's only the third two-day break since the start of the season for Boston. The Celtics are back on the road for a two-game swing through New York, visiting the Knicks on Sunday before a battle with the Paul Pierce-less Nets on Tuesday. A visit from old friend Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers looms next Wednesday.
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FAST BREAK: THIRD TIME THE CHARM AS CELTICS STOP BUCKS

By Ben Rohrbach

All five Celtics starters reached double figures, led by Jordan Crawford‘s 25 points, and the C’s avoided falling victim to the three-win Bucks for the third time in as many tries this season with a 108-100 home win.

Starters Jeff Green (18 points), Brandon Bass (16 points, 9 rebounds), Jared Sullinger (12 points, 8 boards) and Avery Bradley (15 points) all reached double digits, and Courtney Lee added 11 off the bench.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Long distance: The Celtics sunk their first four 3-point attempts — a pair of Bradley treys sandwiched around one apiece from Crawford and Green — to grab an early 18-9 advantage and force a Bucks timeout. While the C’s missed their next 10 3-point attempts, the early barrage staked them to a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and a late string of triples gave them 11 on 24 attempts for the night. Crawford, Bradley and Green combined for 10 of them.

Over the Hump: The ankle injury to Kelly Olynyk finally created an opening for increased Kris Humphries minutes, and the veteran forward has responded with his usual rebounding prowess. As he has for his previous seven NBA seasons, Humphries entered the game averaging double-digit boards per 36 minutes (10.5), and that number only stands to improve after he snagged seven boards in his first seven minutes against Milwaukee.

Happy Lee returns: After missing the previous two games with soreness in his left knee, Lee scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting off the bench. He didn’t provide his usual stat sheet stuffing, but the Celtics desperately needed his offense after seeing their second unit get outscored by 49 points in his two-game absence.


WHAT WENT WRONG

Closing time: The Celtics had leads as large as 13 and 15 points in the first and second quarters, respectively, but watched those slim to single digits in the final minutes of each frame. Led by a bench that outscored their C’s counterparts 8-2 early, the Bucks finished on a 14-6 run to trim Boston’s lead to 28-23 after one. Likewise, Milwaukee closed the second quarter on an 11-3 run that cut the Celtics’ lead to 48-41 at the break.

Turd quarter: After limiting their turnovers to five in the first half, the Celtics committed six in the third, leading to nearly half ( of the Bucks’ 22 points in the quarter. Given the C’s own defense, which turned 14 Milwaukee turnovers into 17 points through 36 minutes, the game should have been well in hand entering the final frame.
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Celtics finally get best of Bucks, 108-100

BOSTON — Four games below .500 is where the Boston Celtics (8-12) stand after finally beating the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

Even more significant?

Tuesday's 108-100 victory catapulted the Celtics to the top of the Atlantic Division.

Of course that can change by the end of the night if the Toronto Raptors win at Golden State which seems unlikely the way Eastern Conference teams have been tossed around by their Western Conference brethren this season.

For a franchise that treats division banners the way fans treat free goodies - nice, but not that big a deal - the reality of where they stand in the playoff race has little meaning right now.

More important to them is trying to continue improving while racking up a few more wins along the way.

They seemed to be well on their way to doing that Tuesday night, but against the Bucks?

The Celtics, who had lost their two previous games against Milwaukee, had no reason to feel confident that they would emerge victorious even if they led most of the night.

A 3-pointer by Milwaukee's Brandon Knight cut Boston's lead to 99-96.

On the ensuing possession, the Celtics were in scramble mode, seemingly unsure of where to turn to for a much-needed basket.

After being limited most of the second half with a slew of double teams, it was Jared Sullinger who delivered a shot clock-beating jumper that would eventually prove to be the game-winning basket as his father Satch Sullinger looked on just a few feet away.

Sullinger was one of five starters for the Celtics to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds. Boston's Jordan Crawford led all scorers with 25 points and Courtney Lee, returning to the lineup after missing two games with a left knee strain, had 11 points off the bench including some clutch baskets in the second half.

Meanwhile the Bucks (3-14) were led by O.J. Mayo's 19 points.

Boston got just what they wanted in the game's opening minutes, getting bucket after bucket after bucket on the way towards a 22-9 start.

But the Celtics weren't about to get too confident, especially against a Milwaukee team that handed them a loss earlier this season despite the Celtics putting them in a 22-point hole that they were able to climb out of.

Boston's beginning was exactly what Milwaukee rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo had feared.

"Third time (against Boston will) be hard," Antetokounmpo told CSNNE.com prior to tip-off. "We cannot give them easy baskets at the beginning."

But the Bucks, as they have done in the previous two games, chipped away at Boston's lead with a 14-6 run to end the first that left the Celtics ahead 28-23.

An 8-0 run early in the second quarter pushed Boston's lead to 13 points again. But the second ended much like the first - a Milwaukee run - which saw Boston's lead trimmed to 48-41 at the half.

112288

All hail the first place Celtics.

HEY STEVE.....HOW IS IT GOING?


Sure post when we are in first place................Ah everyone loves a winner!

LOL

112288

my reverse psychology worked.

i said milwaukee would win and Boston gets the w.



KJ

KJ

REPEAT THIS VERY VERY SLOOOOOOWLY EACH TIME THE CELTICS PLAY A GAME...............THE CELTICSSSS WILL LOSE THIS GAMES.........

LOL

112288

Jason Kidd's relationship with top assistant deterioriated after heated staff meeting

By Adrian Wojnarowski

Nets head coach Jason Kidd (left) had a falling out with assistant Lawrence Frank (center). (USA Today)
After Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd blistered top assistant Lawrence Frank in a staff meeting on Nov. 4, the partnership was irreparably damaged and ultimately spiraled to its end on Tuesday, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Hours after a blowout loss to the Orlando Magic – Kidd's first game on the bench following a two-game suspension to start the season – the entire coaching staff witnessed Kidd lose his temper with Frank and escalate a strangely uneasy and brief coaching partnership together.

There had been conversations about moving forward together in recent weeks, league sources said, but the decision to let go of Frank was Kidd's choice.

Kidd told reporters on Tuesday night that Frank – the highest-paid assistant in the NBA – had been reassigned to writing daily reports and would no longer be on the Nets bench. It is unclear if the Nets will actually require Frank to perform those duties to gather the rest of his $1 million annual coaching contract, league sources said.

"With Jason," one league source told Yahoo Sports, "once he turns on you, he turns. That's how he was as a player, and that's what we're seeing again now."


View gallery
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Jason Kidd had no previous coaching experience before taking over the Nets. (USA Today)
The Nets have been in a spiral since the start of the season, a deluge of injuries and a novice head coach contributing to a 5-12 start and a series of embarrassing episodes.
Kidd has been at the crux of the criticism, including a $50,000 league fine for purposely spilling a cup of soda on the floor to try and manufacture a late-game timeout.

Around the Nets, officials and players insisted that Frank had returned to the organization as exactly who he had always been: prepared, organized, hardworking and strong in his convictions. Kidd had hired Frank to have a strong hand in the day-to-day coaching, game planning and practice preparation of the team, but quickly changed course in his desire for Frank to be such a force within the staff, league sources said.

Frank has always had strong opinions, but it is the head coach's job to sift through the advice and make the ultimate choices. "He was loyal," one league coaching source with knowledge of the dynamic told Yahoo Sports.

Kidd had come to differ with Frank's beliefs on how the Nets should defend, league sources said, but those had been strategies that the coaching staff had hammered out together throughout the summer and training camp.

As Kidd worked to convince Nets management to hire him directly out of his playing career with no coaching experience, part of his pitch had been his desire to hire Frank and give him significant responsibility. Kidd played for Frank from 2004-08 in New Jersey and kept a strong relationship with him through the years.

Frank's wife has been ill, and taking a job that allowed him to live in his Northern New Jersey home had been an ideal scenario. Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers offered Frank a chance to be his top assistant, eager to reunite after having Frank on his staff for a season with the Boston Celtics.

Before the start of training camp, Kidd was effusive in his praise of Frank, telling Yahoo Sports: " 'The staff and me have to feed you every day,' Lawrence tells me," Kidd said. "And then you have to digest it. You have to pick what I want to share with the guys. It’s a great partnership."

Frank is still owed money on his Detroit Pistons head coaching buyout and has a six-year agreement with Brooklyn – that includes four coaching years – that averages more than $1 million a year, sources said.

Kidd surprised many when he passed over Frank to be the interim coach during Kidd's two-game suspension to start the season. Kidd chose assistant coach Joe Prunty, who had no previous NBA head coaching experience.

Frank had been a head coach for parts of seven seasons with the Nets, owning a 225-241 record. Kidd played for Frank from 2004-2008.

Several scouts following the Nets had seen a noticeable change in Frank's on-court disposition in recent weeks, clearly seeing him far less engaged on the bench.

112288

Hi,
A couple notes on the game.
Obviously, one of the rarest shots out of bounce, less than a second on the shot clock, over the board and through the net.
The other is an interesting comment by Sully Sr. about Sully Jr.: he'll loose weight when he'll play PF exclusively, for now he needs the bulk to play 5.

What about possible miracle on Causeway Street: Celtics are in playoffs and in the lottery with #10 spot?  

AK

Sinus,

If the Celtics make the playoffs, they miss the lottery. The lottery is for the 14 teams that don't make the playoffs, not the 14 teams with the worst records.

Sinus

I believe that shot should have not counted. If indeed the ball passed thru an imaginary plain that extends from both outside edges of the backboard up it should not have counted. If he had missed the ball would just have remained live and in play.

When a shot hits the rim and goes over the top of the backboard it is ruled out of bounds even if it doesn't touch anything.

Bradley's shot was close to that imaginary line regardless.

Like the shot of Sully's dad sitting there under the basket. Other than clapping didn't even react much to his sons fade away shot that basically sealed the win for us.

beat

Beat,

I can't find anything definitive, but I believe they changed that rule so that a shot going over the backboard is still legal as long as:

• At least a portion of the ball doesn't go over the backboard. In effect, this means the player shooting the ball must be to the side of the backboard, not directly behind it. Shooting from directly behind the backboard would be illegal because the backboard would prevent the defense from contesting the shot.

• The ball doesn't hit the support, 24-second clock, or anything except the backboard and rim (other than the back side of the backboard, which is out of bounds).

It used to be that no portion of the ball could pass over the backboard, and Larry Bird's famous shot from the behind the backboard was waved off.

beat wrote:Sinus

I believe that shot should have not counted. If indeed the ball passed thru an imaginary plain that extends from both outside edges of the backboard up it should not have counted. If he had missed the ball would just have remained live and in play.

When a shot hits the rim and goes over the top of the backboard it is ruled out of bounds even if it doesn't touch anything.

Bradley's shot was close to that imaginary line regardless.

Like the shot of Sully's dad sitting there under the basket. Other than clapping didn't even react much to his sons fade away shot that basically sealed the win for us.

beat

Beat,
I'm not sure you're right. I couldn't find anything in the Rules book that'd explicitly define the ball traveling in the air on the trajectory as the last night to be out-of-bounds.
Also, I believe I saw Larry Bird scored with similar shot.

AK

P.S. here it is

Larry's shot was waived off ( the clip is on another thread)

OK watch the ref next to Larry after the shot. He is clearly waiving that the shot does not count

beat

Nothing like going to the rule book


Although I was right about a shot from out front pasing over the top of the backboard being out of bounds.... Imagine the backboad as the door of a tunnel going straight back. No shot or pass may go thru that imaginary space if so it is called out of bounds and whistled dead like Birds shot. Bradley's shot did not "break" that imaginary shaft and thus was allowed even though it partially appeared to go over the top corner of the backboard it was never "behind" it.

Here is the rulebook...

Section II-Ball
a. The ball is out-of-bounds when it touches a player who is out-of-bounds or any other person, the floor, or any object on, above or outside of a boundary or the supports or back of the backboard.
b. Any ball that rebounds or passes directly behind the backboard, in either direction, from any point is considered out-of-bounds.


beat

BobH,

I can understand the confusion between Tommy and me. Same height. Love the hook shot.

One difference. Since my one-month trip just ended, I have now traveled more miles than Tommy has since the end of October.

I'm looking forward to seeing my first Celtics game in a month this Friday. Where was ESPN when I was in Florida?

Sam