Re: Celtics Post-Game Thread (Collection of past threads)

[mrkleen09]

I think I have said this after 4 or 5 of the last 6 wins...but hey, a win is a win.

I dont think luck had anything to do with it. If anything the Kings got lucky, with Hawes and Thompson playing over their heads and throwing in some prayers.

-Rondo played great D on Evans
-Perk was a NON factor. Would love to see him get aggressive again and just power the ball through someone's chest.
-KG looks rough. Cant say too many good things about him right now, especially on defense
-Ray was off
-Pierce was solid. Looked slow on D, but scored when we needed it.
-Sheed was great. Good D, good post moves, good 3s, aggression in pushing around the Kings. Very good game.
-Davis was great as well. His best game of the season. Love when he plays strong and just bangs people around. He dominated the boards and showed flashes of what he brought to the playoffs last year. Need him to continue this, especially against the SOFT Lakers.
-House was hot
-Quis made some mistakes, but played really well otherwise.
-TA was a non factor

Looking forward to Thursday Night and another sleep deprived evening.

[cowens/oldschool]

I thought Rondo and Quis both played very good defense on Evans.....don't remember ever seeing a whole team missing so many in close shots all night AND Perk wasn't only one getting his shot blocked.That Israelli SF looked like a young Kirolenko the way he helped and Jason Thompson showed great help D too.Thought Pierce had at least 3 chances to get to line,but no call as he got hacked and bumped on different occasions.

[bobheckler]

I wasn't able to watch the game. Can you believe I'm 2 hours or less away from Sacramento and I can't see their games?

Tyreke "the freak" had 17 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists with only 1 turnover in 41 minutes. Can you imagine if we didn't play tough D on him?

Casspi is looking pretty good, in general. Coach Paul Westphal said, earlier this season, that when he looks down his bench into the eyes of his players and tries to see who wants in the game, Casspi is #1. That's why he's starting.

A win is a win is a win, but now we're going to the Staples Center and we need to play better. EVERYBODY needs to bring their "A" game.

bob

[cowens/oldschool]

Bob
Tyreke as you know controls the ball constantly,alot for a rookie,but we were on him.Casspi showed me something,kid has some intangibles and can defend.....some Bobby Jones in him. cow

[dboss]

good to see the C's get back on the winning track. Hoping this will be a trend and not just a win against a weak team.

Seems every game is tough no matter who the competition is.

dboss

[jeb]

Quis is going to help this squad big. He is a gym rat and tommy point guy. He plays great d and is long and quick. He and Rondo will do some nice things together.

Worried about Perk. He is in a bad ten game funk.

[babyskyhook]

Hey Jeb- How are you buddy ?

Hope you're well.

What funk has Perk been in ? I've only seen the games vs the Lakers and Magic.

[jeb]

sky! what say sailor? I have been inna freelance funk 1rst quarter and so has my wife...as such money is rough right now. But I am good with my hands and have been out building shit for money and dawn is starting to rally so chin up shouders square. "For every dark night there's a bright day comin." to quote Pac.

Perk has been in a pretty bad funk on o. Just missing bunnies, not finishing strong or catching the ball very well. Makes me worry there are some significant chemistry issues with this years team. He just seems to be pouting a little bit.

He was such a force early that it's come as a surprise to us green geeks over here.

Good to have you around...enjoy the game but hopefully not too much.

Jeb

[babyskyhook]

You know you're always on good ground with me when you're quoting Pac.

Well, to quote one of my favorites from Pac- "We ain't meant to survive cause it's a setup. But even though you're fed up. You got to keep your head up."


In fact, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQcJAjYxaI


Brings back so many good memories for me. A huge smile mixed with a little sadness just remembering how great he was.

Enjoy the video my friend.

And enjoy tonight's game- until the very end at least.

[jeb]

Sky

I got a feeling you aint going to like the end tonite...we are due.

Pac was quite a contradiction with the ladies eh? Your link to brenda with a baby and sometimes he went all player.

My fren charlie smoked a doober with him in county lockup out in your necka the woods and he liked him.

I still groove on pac and big more than any other rap. Though there is much new stuff out there that's good.

[Sam]

Sky,

Tommy Heinsohn just made a good point. Lately, opponents have actually been double-teaming Perk some of the time—enough to make him somewhat tentative enough to throw him off his game on the offensive end.

It's not too difficult to double him and recover to their own man because some of Perk's moves are rather ponderous and transparent; if he's going to make a move, sometimes he has to "wind up" and take some time doing it. If he were a better (and, more important, quicker) passer, he could perhaps turn the tables on the doublers.

It seems to me that he's a player who has worked hard to become better and better, which has made him an increasingly important focus in the Celtics' attack. Perhaps they need to realize that his physical limitations put a celiing of sorts on what can be legitimately expected from him. It could be a mistake for Perk and/or the Celts to assume he can continue to increase his contributions indefinitely. At some juncture, maybe they need to be satisfied with a contributing role and not pressure him for more than that.

Sam

[Sam]

Here's the post-game thread for the Lakers game. I'll contribute later. My quick take: The starters finally played closer to their potential, with Ray (first three-quarters in particular) and Perk (fourth quarter in particular) playing assertively; and the defense picked up as the game progressed. No Kobe, but a win is a win, especially with a thin bench. Tommy Heinsohn just said the Celtics had the will to win, and he's right. That's been a missing ingredient since Christmas. My new glimmers are already posted on the glimmer thread. By the way, Tony hurt his leg tonight and will probably be out tomorrow, so they could really use an arrival by Robinson in Portland (although Doc doesn't think Nate will be there in time).

Have fun posting.

Sam

[babyskyhook]

SAm- yes, I agree.

Perk is who he is- limited offensively, but a great man defender with a great motor and a mean streak. Given the style of ball that the Cs play, as long as they don't ask him to do things he's not capable of on O, he seems like a perfect fit.

[jeb]

sky

he flat handled the action tonight.

[babyskyhook]

Yes, I'm a little bummed that he wasn't traded along with Ray for Kmart and Hawes. That would have been sweet as a Laker fan !

[babyskyhook]

Perk was the difference down the stretch tonight. He really took Gasol out of his spots, and Gasol didn't face him up.

[jeb]

Gasol is average facing the basket.

[jeb]

But the best big in the nba facing the basket...a stone killer.

[sinus007]

Sam,
Thanks as always.
2 bright spots, besides a win in LA of course. Actually, 3: RA was shooting (hopefully it'll stay through playoffs); Perk put the pedal to the metal, especially on D; KG looked much better than in the last few games - either his knee did improve or, he decided to test how far he can go.

AK

[jeb]

1. KG IN BOLD PRINT
2. HEART AND WILL TO WIN
3. RAY ALLEN
4. PERK
5. TEAM D WITH A SERIOUS MEAN STREAK

[bobheckler]

I posted this on the "Celtics Frontline Continues to Falter" thread because this thread didn't exist at the time I wrote it (and I wouldn't think of usurping Sam's prerogative by starting this thread myself), so I'm copying and pasting it here now.
________________________________________________________

Great win last night. Not just for the W, but for morale. They're 2-0 on a west coast road trip coming out of the all-star game. Nice. Very nice start.

Came out hot in the first and third. Those have been our weak quarters and we focused and did well. The Lakers rallied and even took the lead in the 4th and we fought back and won. They were playing without Bryant, but who knows which Bryant would have showed up? The one who shoots 45% and sets up Bynum and Gasol, or KoME who loses the game for the Lakers because he'll take 30% of all the Lakers' fga even though he's shooting 40%? Still, the Lakers shot 40% as a team last night, so KoME wouldn't have hurt them. Gasol, Bynum and Odom combined for 19-36 (52.7% on 44% of the total fga). The rest of the team shot 14-46 (30.4% on 56% of the total fga). Artest was shooting well (6-14), it was their backcourt that stunk up the Staples Center.

1. Gasol has become a great all round player. Inside/outside, left hand/right hand. He's even playing pretty good interior defense.

2. KG looked great last night. Really great. He attacked on offense, both inside and out, had elevation on his jumps and was completely wired on defense. Please Lord, don't make it a fluke.

3. Sheed looked out of it last night. Really out of it. He had one nice slither move on offense and was bad the rest. Got pushed around like a bunch of junk mail and left in the dust on defense. Didn't see him stopping anybody. Please Lord, make it a fluke.

4. Ray Allen didn't want to be traded. He wanted to be a Celtic and he wants to be here next season. He showed just how glad he was the trade deadline came and went and he was still in green last night. What a professional. 10-15 from the field, 4-6 from 3. That was vintage Ray Allen we were privileged to see last night. A lot has been made about Shannon Brown and understandable so. He's a talent. But Ray completely schooled him last night.

5. Our interior defense was weak, except for Perk. Nobody was putting bodies on anybody, ESPECIALLY Sheed and Davis. When you're playing a long frontline like Gasol, Bynum and Odom you have GOT to put a body on them and bump them or they'll just jump over or around you, just like last night. This game was a lot closer because of Laker second chances.

6. 5 steals for Rondo on national TV will help solidify his position as a future perennial all-star. Out performing Fisher and Farmar combined won't hurt either.

7. Sasha had a good game, much as it pains me to admit it. He provided energy when the Lakers were down a bunch and were in danger of having the game slip away. Too bad for him one game isn't a career. The Lakers were trying like crazy to move him before the deadline and nobody wanted him.

8. When the Celtics down-pick on Artest and let Pierce pop out and get the ball where he wants to shoot, he's effective. When they just give the ball on top to Pierce and let him try to work Artest, he isn't. Interestingly, though, Artest had the worst +/- of all the Laker players last night with -13.

9. Stick a dinner fork in D-Fish. Maybe a salad fork in Farmar. I wouldn't touch Sasha Eurobitch with a ten-foot pole.

10. The bench looked better than the starters before the all-star game. They looked like "the bench" last night. You could see what the absence of Eddie has done. We're not feared "deep". Our offensive spacing is more packed in, which helps the defense. Hopefully, Nate will fix that.

I was watching the game in a bar and the sound was turned off (let me tell you, it's pretty weird watching the drama of a Lakers/Celtics game with Ozzy yelling in your ear about how "he's going off the rails on a crazy train"). Does anybody know why Rondo got that T after Ray dunked the ball on Rondo's fast break?

bob.
bobheckler


Posts: 449
Join date: 2009-10-28

[mrkleen09]

Sheed is an every other game player at this stage. He played great against Sacramento, badly last night.

His technical was PURE BS....that is either a double technical or nothing. NBA refs continue to show how god awful they are.

Big Win....I'll take it.

Now lets go to Portland and take one without Brandon Roy on the court and head home 3-1.

[jeb]

gasol knocked the crap out of a driving pp ...no call.

and kleen...we still got denver

[Sam]

BobH,

Taunting. I heard the headlines in all the L.A. papers read: "Rondo Speaks!!!"

Sam

[Sam]

Okay, here's my "official" submission, for whatever it's worth. Tommy Heinsohn summarized this one beautifully when he said the Celtics exhibited the will to win. And that could have been the brightest glimmer of several because that ingredient has been lacking in recent games…and it is an essential on a championship team that has to overcome many obstacles.

Anyway, the Celts started off very strongly…another major glimmer, as the starters showed the way throughout the entire game (another
turnaround from the recent past) and survived a cross between a defensive war and an offensive abortion to guts out the one-point win. (The Celts shot over 50% for the first half, but wound up at 44% for the game; but they held the Lakers to 40%.)

Perk (in yet another revelation) was absolutely immense in that quarter, completely stonewalling an otherwise very effective Gasol on
defense and contributing a timely monster putback on the offensive end. Perk was a monster on the boards, with three offensive and 11 defensive rebounds.

I thought KG looked pretty fluid in this game. Although many of his outside shots seemed to be taken from about half a foot beyond his normal range, he went to the hoop effectively and with authority. (The Celts wound up in a virtual tie with the Lakers for points in the
paint, trailing by only two.) Although the Lakers attacked the hoop relentlessly throughout much of the game, KG and Perk did a pretty good job of interior defense (particularly in the second half) and wound up with only four fouls apiece.

Paul Pierce played a steady game, putting in 41 minutes as the bench was shorthanded as a result of Eddie’s departure and the non-arrival of Robinson. I thought that the most valuable part of Paul’s game involved his six rebounds, which helped the Celts to be without shouting distance (seven) of the Lakers on the boards.

The game was definitely won at the guard positions. Rondo played a controlled game, displaying occasional flashes of his dynamic self (mainly in making defensive steals) but maintaining a steady pace. He submitted a line of 14 points, 11 assists, five rebounds, five
steals, and only one turnover…and far outshining the Lakers PGs.

And then there was Walter Ray Allen…the man who obtained a reprieve from the Warriors, Wizards, Kings, Knicks, 76ers, and seven or eight other teams to pour in jumper after jumper in the first and third quarters, leading to substantial Celtics cushions each time. Freed from the necessity of guarding an absent Kobe, Ray was 10-15 from the field 4-6 from the arc, and led both teams with 24 big
points. All that was missing from the final play, in which Ray was in Fisher’s jersey as Derek airballed a jumper, was the slow motion visual and the inspiring swelling of music. Welcome back home, Ray—in every sense of the term.

Aside from some continuing aggressive play by Glen Davis, the less said about the bench the better. Sheed, working with both the bench and in place of KG, who collected all four of his fouls by the third quarter, seemed out of sync and shot in traffic or rushed three-pointers on the way to a 2-11 night. Daniels had one rebound and two turnovers and did not take a single shot in his 13 minutes. Tony might have been on his way to some worthwhile contributions, but he hurt his ankle after scoring four points in seven minutes; and he did not
return. I can only hope that the bench was in a state of limbo during the hiatus between Eddie and Nate. I maintain that, in today’s game, any unit needs a floor-spacer, and I think Sheed was conflicted about his most appropriate role in that contest.

This portion of the season will bring out the child in all of us, in the sense that it will be like an extended game of building blocks. This one brought out the sweathogs in the Celtics, and I was proud of them.

Sam

[Sponsored content]