POST GAME CHICAGO - AWAY

CELTICS’ SLUMP CONTINUES WITH LOSS TO BULLS

WEEI

By Jackson Alexander 
 
The Celtics‘€™ swoon continued on Thursday night in Chicago, as Boston fell to the Bulls, 94-82, on the road for the team’€™s fifth loss in six games.

The C’€™s (13-19) struggles come at an inopportune time as they now face six straight Western Conference teams including four red-hot teams in the Trailblazers, Warriors, Thunder and Clippers.

Chicago was led by Joakim Noah, who nearly recorded a triple-double with a team-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Carlos Boozer (16 points) led five other Bulls in double digits.

Jordan Crawford paced Boston with 22 points and five assists. Jared Sullinger produced a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Sloppy start: The Celtics committed six turnovers in the first quarter. This sloppiness led to a 24-21 deficit for the team in the first 12 minutes, and marked only the second time in the last eight games that Boston trailed after one quarter. All six giveaways were credited to the Celtics‘€™ starters, as every member of the starting lineup was flagged for at least one turnover. Boston’€™s sloppiness with the basketball was not necessarily isolated to the first quarter as it committed turnovers.

3-point struggles: The uninspired 3-point shooting game of the Celtics came to a nadir on Thursday night as they nearly failed to make a single three. Boston missed all but two of its 12 attempts from beyond the arc, and it took the team 46 minutes of game time to register a triple. The Celtics, who have not relied on the 3-pointer all season, shot just 5-of-29 from downtown in their previous game.

Green slumps: If the Celtics hope to end their recent struggles, the first step is getting forward Jeff Green back on track. Green, who leads the team in scoring, struggled again on Thursday, and his recent slump has coincided ‘€“ likely not back accident ‘€“ with Boston’€™s slump. In the Celtics’€™ last eight games, five of which ended in losses, Green’€™s averaged just 11.4 points per game and has shot over 45 percent from the field just once.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Battle of the boards: When the Bulls and Celtics faced off on Thursday, a potential recipe for disaster was brewing. Boston, a below average rebounding team, would need to contest with one of the NBA’€™s most lethal front line in the league. Chicago boasts the sixth best rebounding team in the league, based on rebound differential per game, but the Celtics went beyond containing the Bulls on the glass and in fact, Boston outrebounded its opposition, thanks to huge effort on the offensive side of the ball. The Celtics grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, with Jared Sullinger leading the way with six.

Crawford: In Boston’€™s most recent loss, a heartbreaking loss to the Hawks riddled with negative takeaways, Jordan Crawford’€™s lack of production, and his putrid inefficiency might have trumped all the disappointments. Crawford had one of his worst games in a Celtics uniform, collecting just eight points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 from the 3-point line. But the third-year guard point recollected himself and tossed in a team-high 22 points, and used on 11 shots to get there.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rapid Reaction: Bulls 94, Celtics 82

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid Reaction after the Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics 94-82 on Thursday night at the United Center:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Joakim Noah flirted with a triple-double (17 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists) while leading six Bulls players in double figures, including Mike Dunleavy (12 points) who provided a little second-half jolt as Chicago motored away. Jordan Crawford scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting with seven assists (negated slightly by a game-high five turnovers) to lead Boston. Kris Humphries put up nine points and 11 rebounds in another solid effort off the bench, while a gloved Jared Sullinger chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds despite the lingering injury on his left hand. Boston turned the ball over 20 times (for 19 points), while the Bulls -- the team with the worst turnover rate in the league -- gave it up just 13 times (albeit for 21 points).

TURNING POINT
The Celtics were within a point early in the third quarter, but the game got away quickly. The Bulls embarked on an 11-2 run over a four-minute stretch, Luol Deng (14 points) providing the first six points and Noah added the last five, including a layup that capped the spurt and had the Bulls out front 61-51 with 6:15 to play in the frame. The Celtics made a couple charges, but never got closer than four despite opportunities. Chicago pushed its lead to eight before the end of the third and the lead soared as high as 19 in the final frame.

ANOTHER FLAGRANT FOR SULLINGER
Sullinger picked up his third flagrant-1 foul of the season for a hard takedown of Taj Gibson in the fourth quarter. Players receive one point for each flagrant-1 foul (and two points for a flagrant 2) and one-game suspensions start after five accrued points. Sullinger isn't in the danger zone yet, but it could be an issue down the road.

LOOSE BALLS
Rookie center Vitor Faverani, who had not played in Boston's previous two games, played nine minutes. He had four points and a rebound, but his night was highlighted by a little steal/fastbreak dunk combo. Alas, Faverani was minus-13 overall in plus/minus. ... Coming off a career night in Tuesday's loss to the Hawks, Kelly Olynyk struggled early on defense and played only 7:41. He finished with three points and a rebound. ... The Celtics actually won the battle on the glass, 48-41 overall. ... Keith Bogans was a healthy DNP.

WHAT IT MEANS
Boston (13-19) has lost five of its last six. The Celtics must battle Winter Storm Hercules trying to get back to Boston in advance of Friday's visit from the New Orleans Pelicans. No need for the team to fire up their snowblowers though as the Celtics head right back out on the road for a five-game road trip with stops in Oklahoma City, Denver, Los Angeles (Clippers), Golden State, and Portland.


112288

Looks like the Celtics will be spending the night in Chicago with the airports closed in Boston.  They will be a tired team as they face NO tomorrow night.


What is up with KO.........guy has a great game against Atlanta.......then plays a few minutes in the 2nd Q and reenters the game with 3:30 in the 4th Q.  What gives?

WELL HUNKER DOWN........IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG COLD SNOWY NIGHT IN NEW ENGLAND!

112288

Couple of random observations

-This team has no real identity or continuity and as such, they dont have any sense of stability on offense or D. With no one really stepping up to assume the leadership role, they go to whatever player is 'next'. Tonight that seemed to be Brandon Bass, who they often forced the ball to - even thought he did not have a favorable match up. Rondo should help this situation a lot - but it will take some time.

-The Bulls look like a frustrated, desperate team that knows their window of opportunity is closing. Rose is a walking injury. Boozer and Hinrick have some serious millage on the tires. Deng wants a BIG raise, which probably means he wont be in Chicago next year. In addition, as much as I like Coach Thibs - that constant yelling has got to grate on players after a while.

-That flagrant foul on Sully was a JOKE. The NBA has become so soft, it is pathetic. If you go up to dunk it with two hands and throw it in your defender's face - you better have enough balance to take a hit and not land on your back. Sully went for the ball - Gibson was trying to be a showboat. They used to call that kind of foul TOUGH SHIT in my neighborhood in Boston.

As an aside, we have about 9" already - with 8 or 9 more to come.

I read an article before the game where Ron Adams said that he is still mystified by his departure from Chicago and said that "if the Bulls' intent was to hurt him and his family, they succeeded".  Ouch.  Before the game, Noah and Deng went over and hugged Ron Adams over at the Celtics' bench.  That was a nice gesture, a nice touch and one of the few nice things that happened last night.

The Chicago announcers was some bozo and long-time Chicago Bull Stacey King.  People talk about how much Tommy complains about fouls and the refs, you should have heard them last night, especially the play-by-play bozo.  You expect the color guy to do it some, that's the color, but not the play guy.  Complaining non-stop about the refs.  About the Ts, about the fouls.  "Let them play refs, let them play!".  Right up until Dunleavy, who is a wuss and always has been going back to his GSW days (he was the #4 pick.  Another draft tankapalooza) thought he was fouled, he was not, and the announcers went crazy for him because he didn't get the ticky-tack foul called.  They never let it go, though, if they thought the refs called a ticky-tack on the Bulls, though.  "Let'em play, refs, let'em play!".  I lost my audio feed, for some reason, in the 4th quarter and that was just fine with me.  Would you like some hors d'oevres with your whine?  Blech.  The crap I put up with for my Celtics.

1.  Bass started off hot, had a couple of jumpers and two blocks in only a few minutes.  He tried to take it to Carlos Boozer right from the get go.  With the loss of Rose, getting Boozer into early foul trouble is a damn good idea.  He also picked up a couple of TOs, ending with 3.  And then he got sat down, only playing 22 minutes, but he wasn't very effective after the first quarter.  Not sure I understand this plan by Brad Stevens.

2.  Sully has that defensive lineman wrap on his hand.  He's obviously hampered by the loss of flexibility and could probably use a game or two off to rest it.  He had 11 points and 11 rebounds, but he was up against a very mobile center in Noah and struggled.  He had problems staying in front of Noah when Noah dribbled and Noah was going over his back and playing tip drills on the offensive boards.  Of Noah's 11 rebounds, 6 were offensive.  Joachim Noah isn't that much of a beast, we're just not boxing out, specifically Sully.  With his wounded paw that should have been his number one priority, more than grabbing the ball.

3.  Noah is the best high post passing big man in the league.  I still can't stand to look at his hausfrau hairstyle and his shooting mechanics make me want to scream, but he's a better half court point guard than Crawford.  I'm not just saying that because Noah had 9 assists, just one assist away from a triple double, and Crawford had 7 assists.  I'm saying it because the offense looked more coherent when the ball was in Noah's hands than when it was in Crawford's.  Some of that credit should go to the rest of the Bulls, who would set multiple picks and moved off them, but therein lies the conundrum of Jordan Crawford.

4.  If you look at his box score, Crawford had a helluva game.  22 points on 7-11, 8-10 from the line, 7 assists.  You'd be inclined to say "Wow!", right?  In fact, with only Sully in double digits with 11, you'd think "Thank God Jordan Crawford at least showed up to play!".  Well, there was also the 5 TOs, but more significantly is the way the team is playing offense now under Crawford.  No movement.  His teammates set picks for Crawford so he can move but not for each other so they can move.  The offense is all about creating opportunities for Crawford, so he's the only one moving.  The Bulls set picks for everybody which created opportunities for everybody and Noah was the one who delivered the package for them.  On two fast breaks Crawford made bad decisions.  One was his having sticky fingers and not passing the ball sooner (resulting in an offensive foul and an empty possession) and another where he wasn't aware of Green on his left wing.  Quite bluntly, Jordan Crawford didn't look like he knew how to run a fast break.  After 1 quarter, Crawford had 3 assists and 1 TO.  He ended with 7 and 5, which means he had 4 assists and 4 TOs in the last 3 quarters.  Yes, I know he's just filling in for Rondo.  I realize he's showing more than I thought he ever would at the beginning of the year but, in my opinion, he's at his ceiling and his ceiling as a point guard is mediocre and less than mediocre in the full court.  He racks up assists but creates empty possessions, lost opportunities and kills momentum with bad decisions resulting in turnovers.  We'll limp along for another month and then see what we have with Rondo and how Crawford responds to getting 20 minutes instead of 38.  

5.  Which brings me to another point.  Pressey had a great game against Atlanta and he played 9 minutes last night.  Kelly had a career night against Atlanta, and he only played 8 minutes last night.  How can players develop with those kind of yo-yo substitution patterns?  Have 5 assists, only 1 TO and create an energetic, effective, uptempo offense?  Sit down.  Score 21 points and be the best player on the Celtics against a good team?  Sit down.  Not sure I understand this about Brad Stevens either.  I'm sure there must be some rhyme or reason behind it, Stevens is too analytical for there not to be, but I'm not seeing it.    

6.  Is Carlos Boozer the only player in the history of the NBA from Alaska?  I love Boozer's game, I always have.  A throwback at 4.  When his mid-range jumper is on he is money and it was on last night.  He reminds me a bit of Charles Oakley.  Both are under-the-rim players, both had good mid-range games (although Boozer trots his out more than Oakley did) and both of them are so strong that it hurts playing against them.  You run into them, you bounce and it hurts.

7.  At least Stevens didn't abandon his entire bench.  Hump had another outstanding game with 9 points and 11 rebounds in 26 solid, rotation minutes.  Courtney Lee is another one who didn't get deep-sixed after his great game against Atlanta.  Courtney had another solid game.  5 rebounds, 2 assists and another steal that looked like he saw it coming before the ball was ever thrown.  Wallace worked hard, as usual.

8.  This is the first time, that I can think of, where Brad Stevens was clearly out-coached.  I think Thib ate his lunch.  Stevens went with, what amounted to, an 8-man team with Wallace and Lee getting 18 and 20 minutes and Hump getting 26.  Pressey, Vitor and KO get little more than cameo minutes with less than 10 each.  Our offense has no motion.  We have no inside game (perhaps forgivable given our shortness) but we don't create opportunities for inside games with picks.  We had only 2 players in double digits, with the ball in Crawford's hands almost all the time.  Chicago had 6 players in double-digits.  Thib is using Noah as his point guard.  Why?  Because Noah is the best passer and has the best point guard instincts on the team.  Stevens is sticking with Crawford, even though Pressey clearly has better point guard instincts.  Even Pressey will bring the ball up and then pass it to Wallace to start the offense.  I'm not having a problem with Crash's game, he has to be disappointed in his role but doesn't beef about it, but Pressey is going to be better at generating motion offense than Wallace.  So, why is Pressey passing to Wallace to start the half court offense?  That is another thing that I've noticed over the past few games that I don't understand about Brad Stevens.  Yes, I am assuming it is happening because that's what the coach wants and not because Pressey is afraid to have the ball in his hands.

9.  Where in the world is Jeff Green?  9 points on 5-18?  Outplayed by All-Star Luol Deng.  Green's body language is bad, it is really, really bad.  I don't know what's going through his head but it isn't good.  Over his past 5 games Green is averaging 12.5ppg on 35.5% fg%, 26% from 3, is only averaging 3.0ftas per game, .8assists and 2.2TOs and 5.2 rebounds.  Not only are these not All-Star numbers, they're not even starter numbers, not for a player who is expected to be a scorer.  His contract, combined with his recent play, makes him only slightly less un-tradeable than Wallace.  He'll be better when Rondo comes back, but so will everybody else.  All-Stars carry their teams.  Jeff Green isn't carrying himself the past 2 weeks, much less the team.  When we started this year we were all excited because Sully was expected to return to form (he has, in fact, bloomed), Bradley was going to be solid (and, in fact, has also bloomed), Rondo was coming back and we were looking for Jeff Green to finish his comeback from surgery and become the dominant force we all thought he could be.  He has more talent on this team than anybody, except for Rondo and maybe even including Rondo.  We thought that, with Green and Wallace, we were really strong at 3, that two starters holding down that position would get the job done.  We were wrong.  In Wallace's case, he's a bit older, he's a bit slower than he used to be and he's coming off the bench when he used to be a starter and that requires a mental adjustment. What's Jeff Green's excuse?


In a division that is so weak there are only 2 teams above .400, we're #2, and barely at that.  Glimmers are becoming as rare as hens' teeth.  Danny's fingers are starting to twitch, especially his trigger finger.  Unfortunately, after our play of the past week or two, we wouldn't be selling high now.


bob


.

Mrkleen,

I thoroughly enjoyed your observations. Although I make it a practice not to comment about referees, I got a real kick out of your reference to your Boston basketball days. I've never seen a player look as genuinely stunned as Sully. He was actually too amazed to react. I believe that, if he had been wearing his handicapped placard, the call might not have been made.

Your comment on lack of an identity is right on target. I always thought the identity of the Russell Celtics involved constant motion/pushing the ball, tough defense, and and an absolute refusal to lose the big ones; the identity of the Cowens Celtics involved ball movement, toughness and incredible energy; the identity of the Bird Celtics involved domination under both baskets and Larry will do the rest; and the identity of the Garnett Celtics involved the kind of almost-instant chemistry (HUGE thanks to Doc) that allowed each of the Three Amigos to focus on what he did best and a cast of role players that helped keep the pressure on throughout the game.

I'll be starting a thread entitled "Wither the Celtics and their Fans?" in which I expand from the previous paragraph.

I hope the pregnancy is going well, and I wish a wonderful and healthy 2014 for you Erin and the baby(ies?).

Sam

Thanks Sam.

I start off each game pretty into it - maybe complaining about a bad call or missed call, sitting on the edge of my seat. And then, as old habits creep in - and I see our players simply unable to respond - I sit back and put my feet up....understanding that this is a long journey, not a short trip.

Erin is doing well and healthy and progressing. We have confirmed it is only one child - but are going to keep the gender a surprise until delivery day. This has caused some complaints from the family members looking to buy gifts in Pink or Blue - but for us, it is one way to not build any pre conceived notions and just let God's plan unfold. I already have a package of Celtics 'onesies' - so no matter the gender, they will be well turned out from the beginning.

MR K,

Tell your family that there is only one color necessary for the baby.........GREEN!

LOL  112288

Thanks Rich. Going to be in NYC end of the month, maybe we can do dinner. I will be in touch.

MRK

LET'S DO IT.   GIVE ME A HEADS UP!

112288