Post-game Thread, Raptors @ Celtics,1/7/11

[Sam]

A Cool Hand Indeed

I'm hogging the start of this post-game thread too. Because, as a Luke Harangody devotee since the Summer League, I want to talk about Luke.

I watched Luke carefully every second of the last quarter. He was never once out of position. He didn't miss one pick opportunity. He darted to space the floor each time it was needed. He moved constantly without the ball. He went to the basket every time one of his teammates shot and every time he had half an opening for his own catch-and-shoot. He blocked out his man in every single defensive rebounding situation. He swung the ball beautifully. He defended a bigger,dangerous guy, and he did a fine job—switching onto others beautifully as well. He must have been dragging near the end, but he continued to energize the team throughout. His double-double stats were great, but they were far from the best things about his game tonight.

Donny Marshall said it a minute ago. He's just what this team needs. A team that rewards the open man. A team that thrives on help defense. A team with a system that thrives on energy and dies without it. Donny just said that Luke needs height and hops the way Larry did. (He carefully stated that he wasn't comparing Luke with Larry, but the concept is the same.)

No one needs to tell me Toronto was inferior competition. That has precisely nothing to do with the attention to fundamentals, energy, and all-around excellence Luke displayed out there.

Doc thought Luke's energy was fantastic. He called Luke an uncanny rebounder for his size. "He's going to fight and do whatever you need. The starters love that. It gets them up and cheering. When he slows it down like he did today, he hits those shots."

He may not have another game like this all season long. Heck, maybe he'll wind up in Maine. But now I know what this guy can do, and I've said before that, once potential becomes apparent, it doesn't disappear. I'm officially a Luke fan. And, if I were 40 years younger and targeting a Celtic to hang around with, Luke would be the guy. (Talk about Mutt and Jeff, Shrek and Donkey.)

Sam

[112288]

GAME..........SET...........MATCH............NEXT WINDY CITY!

GO CELTS

112288

[worcester]

Watching Luke throughout the game all night I was reminded what I like most in sports - intelligent play. He did everything a player should do. Everything a coach would want a player to do. Maybe he doesn't have all the athletic gifts of some other players, but he has learned the game and plays it the way it should be played. That's what I've loved about the Celts over the years - a commitment to excellence in the fundamentals of basketball. The Celts have not always had the best athletes, but they've usually played super smart and executed their skills properly. Luke is right in step with that tradition.

Come to think of it, that's also what I love about the Patriots, a consistent tradition of intelligent play. Not always the best athletes - this year's team is a prime example - but players playing like a team and executing the fundamentals well. Listening to and learning from their coach. Bellichek like Doc Rivers has the respect of his players and is a great coach and teacher like Doc. What a joy to watch such teams play.

On a side note, did you catch Ray's fatherly smile after Von Wafer sank a three? Methinks Ray has taken Von under his wing and is proud of his progress.

Let's not forget Marquis when handing out the kudos tonight - very heads up player. So many great moves this game. And then there are Paul and Glen Davis ---- the list of inspiring players goes on and on.

[sinus007]

Hi,
Good game and a W.
Another good thing about Luke is his shots started to fall. Now RR has one more "receiver".

AK

[worcester]

When Tom Brady retires, do you think there's any chance Rajon will want to take over the Patriots helm?

[cowens/oldschool]

worce he was intelligent and intense,love his nose for the ball,being at the right place at the right time,this kid is a scorer,knows how to find his shot.We all knew it was just a matter of time before his shot started to fall,Ainge was the same way his rookie year......another cog in the machine,love the pick and pop he ran with Ray finding him,going to be rooting for this kid for a long time I hope.

[beat]

RE Luke

I think NYCelt and I watched him a lot the past 3-4 years at Notre Dame. Nothing we haven't seen at that level, but it sure was nice to see it for th C's last eve.

He is someone you have to account for and if you do so what, he'll find a way to do something positive. He outworks virtually everyone.

beat

beat

[jeb]

Did you see Shaq grabn and chatn him up at the end of that game. Like welcome to the nba kid. You can tell the vets dig the guy...thus he has an open ear and is a worker in practice. It was clear the entire team was happy as hell for him.

[bobheckler]

The biggest story of the game last night was Luke, and we all know it. Yeah, it was a W, and I never tire of them, but our return of Rondo was much more valuable than their return of Bargnani, so I never saw the outcome of this game to be different than the game we played against them last week.

1. This was Luke's coming out party, he obviously gets the "game ball". His first professional double-double and he did it in gritty, lunchpail effort style. 8-11 shooting (with a 3) to tie Ray Allen for the #2 Celtic scorer. That right there is impressive. 11 rebounds, 4 of them offensive (be still my beating heart!) and 2 blocks from an undersized player. Luke outplayed Kleiza, who is a Toronto starter, in 9 1/2 fewer minutes. I have been talking up Luke since summer league (as has Sam and others) and, like Sam and others, watched him carefully last night as well. I agree with everything that has been said about him so far by other posters and Donny Marshall. The kid has a nose for the ball, has absorbed the offensive and defensive playbook and can shoot the rock, he just needs to settle down a bit (rookie jitters) and get the chance. The trick now, though, is doing it consistently. That's the difference between a young player and a veteran. Kudos to Doc for riding the hot hand and not just sticking to a formula where subs go in for x minutes to rest the starters and then come out regardless. Doc subbed Luke for Shaq with 5:57 left in the 3rd and left Luke in for the rest of the game! That's 18 straight minutes of play! If Doc wanted to see what Luke could do with extended minutes, he got a snootful. In those 18 leaden-leg minutes Luke shot 3-6 from the field, had 3 offensive rebounds and 3 defensive rebounds and a blocked shot and that doesn't even take into account all the non-stat intangibles Sam mentioned.

2. As long as I'm on the subject of "rarely used players", Von Wafer did well last night too. He really looks very, very different from the player drafted by the Lakers in '06 and who has played for a different team every year since turning pro. He is working much harder on defense and he isn't playing too loose on offense. In particular, I liked the block he made from behind on a Raptor (not even his man!), took the ball downcourt quickly and, when he saw he didn't have an open lane to the basket he kicked it back to Luke, who passed it to Nate, who dribbled it away. Von Wafer, however, made the right decision and did not try to force his offense.

3. Nate shot well last night but I don't like him at point. He dribbles without purpose, IMO, and it gets him in trouble and eats up the clock. 2 assists and 2 turnovers are not great stats for a point guard, not even a backup. Stats aside, the offense doesn't run as smoothly with the ball in his hands.

4. Marquis Daniels is a green swiss army knife. He does many things well against a wide variety of competition. We are seeing, now that he's healthy and confident, what he can do for this club and I like him a lot. His biggest weakness is his outside shooting, but he is an outstanding post up player for his size and has excellent courtvision if/when the defense collapses on him.

5. A healthy SamStat of 67% despite a mediocre, by his standards, assist total by Rondo. We average 24.3 assists/game, we had 31 last night. We shot a dynamite 57.5%. More assists will do that for you. This is our second offensively smooth game in a row. Our defense has given up more points in those games, but what the hell. With the return of KG imminent and Perk not too many weeks after that, I have no fears that our defense can and will ratchet back up. Our offense, however, has sputtered and even became downright disfunctional over the previous couple of weeks with the absence of Rondo, so I'm more than happy to see any improvements come in that area, even if it means losing a little (for now) on defense.

Chicago lost last night, so they'll be angrier than a hornet's nest tonight. On the bright side, both teams are on the second game of a back-to-back and only one of our starters played more than 30 minutes (Davis, the youngster, with 33), so we should still be fresh tonight.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing prettily on Celtics Planet.

bob

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[Sam]

BobH, your posts are starting to sound more and more like an aviary. (Spring has sprung, the grass has riz; I wonder where the flowers is.) And with good reason.

I can't help having the feeling that part of the reason the Celtics have so many injuries is that they have a lot of good rotation players. At some point, the Law of Averages takes over. I just hope that law now gets lost so that Doc's main problems will involve how to deal with an embarrassment of riches.

Right now, the only teeth-grinding aspects of the Celtics are every second that Avery is on the floor and every second Nate puts the ball on the floor. I'm usually fairly stoic during games. But, last night, there was one possession on which the Celts were swinging the ball and Nate just decided to dribble directly into two defenders in the lane for a "duh" turnover. That wasn't even a playmaking gaffe. It registered a complete lack of basketball awareness. The more they can restrict him to catch-and-shoot roles, the better I'll like it.

Sam

[bobheckler]

BobH, your posts are starting to sound more and more like an aviary. (Spring has sprung, the grass has riz; I wonder where the flowers is.) And with good reason.

I can't help having the feeling that part of the reason the Celtics have so many injuries is that they have a lot of good rotation players. At some point, the Law of Averages takes over. I just hope that law now gets lost so that Doc's main problems will involve how to deal with an embarrassment of riches.

Right now, the only teeth-grinding aspects of the Celtics are every second that Avery is on the floor and every second Nate puts the ball on the floor. I'm usually fairly stoic during games. But, last night, there was one possession on which the Celts were swinging the ball and Nate just decided to dribble directly into two defenders in the lane for a "duh" turnover. That wasn't even a playmaking gaffe. It registered a complete lack of basketball awareness. The more they can restrict him to catch-and-shoot roles, the better I'll like it.

Sam

sam,

He did that in the San Antone game too. Hey Nate! Jamaica me crazy!

Avery's struggling to find his game. He's obviously not comfortable with the ball in his hands. We're in our worst case scenarios when Avery or Nate have the ball and are dribbling. It's off to D-league, for Avery in a few short weeks. If he doesn't get into a blowout like last night until there are less than 3 minutes left, he's hanging onto the bench by his fingernails.

I'm not sure I understand your point about us having "the reason why we have so many injuries is because we have a lot of good rotation players". Are you saying we are keeping players off the floor (e.g. KG, West and Rondo) just to give the other good rotation players some floor time?

bob

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[Sam]

Bob,

My reasoning is simply because we have a lot of players good enough to be part of the regular rotation, we have more players to be exposed to injury. That's what i meant by the Law of Averages.

Sam

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