POST GAME ORLANDO

What a great game!

The Celtics played like KG never missed a game...incredible performance!

What can you say about the ref's.................they are getting worse!

Doc dogged a bullet tonight....up 10 points and he goes small? What happened to SE?
Sometimes I just do not understand Doc...why give up height and rebounding....why?

Celtics got to get their act down in terms of rebounding.....last in the NBA in rebounding.

Big win.....were are starting another roll!!!!!!!! Perk due back in his first game Feb 4th!!!!


Go Celtics


112288

Big Baby brought more to the parquet than SE could. That was behind Doc's reasoning. Great game overall. Again, such a superb team effort. So many plays and players to love.

I believe Erden was enough under the weather to miss the game. Otherwise, Doc could have inserted him when Howard was out of the game. On the other hand, because neither team played good defense until the last three minutes of the game (according to Doc later), maybe Doc realized that (1) they needed all the offense they could muster, (2) their shooting percentage was the best way to maintain it, (3) points in the paint were the main catalyst for their high shooting percentage, and (4) Glen was instrumental in producing points in the paint.

Sam

Tell you something else that Glen did, on Orlando's last possession when KG stole the ball Glen made the actual defensive gem. Not only did he show on the pick and roll to cover the smaller, quicker Nelson he stopped his penetration, made him switch hands on his dribble and turned Nelson back to his left, toward the middle of the court where a bit of a traffic jam was. Glen's textbook footwook and defensive body position caused Nelson to get flustered and lose control of the ball, which led to the KG steal. Red is in Heaven doing a Red on Roundball instructional tape right now of that play illustrating the perfect way for a big to defend the pick and roll against a guard.

It was fun to hear Marv Albert shout "Kevin Garnett stole the ball" and have it jar my memory of Johnny Most's classic call, "Havlicek steal the ball!"
The contrast was most amusing.

man that damn Turk can shoot cant he?
What a great NBA game...had it all. Orlando wont put up too much resistance inna 7 game series cuz they dont play any d.

The starting 5 can beat anybody, anywhere...Perk comes back on my Birthday.

2 interesting stats from last nights game, Ray scores 26 points while taking only 11 shots, outrageous efficiency! He is truly an amazing player. The other interesting stat Dwight Howard plays 43 minutes and picks up only 1 foul. That also, is TRULY amazing in a WTF kind of way!!

Hi,
What a game, what a game! 48 minutes of excitement.
A few observations.
1. The refs almost caused me a heart attack. Thankfully, they let it go in the last 3-4 minutes.
2. KG, despite playing great, looked a bit rusty and, I suspect will need another game or two to stop subconsciously thinking about his right leg/knee. He and BBD did a great job at the end cornering JN and making him to panic => steal by KG. Another non-stat but extremely important quality of KG is intimidation. It was in full swing yesterday. He riled D12 but when D12 tried to pay back he was talking to a stone.
3. PP was great. My wife asked me during the game: "Nobody talks about PP. Is he playing?" I told her that you don't have to score to be a key player. PP was doing that. And finally, at the end he put his personal stamp: we will win. With all due respect to JR, it looked like everybody in the building except him knew what PP is doing.
4. BBD played great. I guess with the KG's return he went back to his natural "habitat". At one point, being under the hoop, he had presence of mind to throw the ball out instead of fighting through forest of taller players.
5. RA is RA. What can I say. At one point they did a perfect switch leaving D12 against him which allowed RA to drain one of his 3.
6. Solid performance from RR, Shaq (100% FT ) and MD.
7. Nate is still in the shooting slump. On the other end, thou, he did a good job on GA.
8. LH put 8 good minutes. I think he's pumped too much, he needs to calm down and his jumpers will fall in. The one he scored was a classic: everybody collapses over PP, bounce pass to completely open LH who had all the time in the world to swoosh.
9. Have to give it to D12: he tried very hard, he even showed his new weapon - kiss off the glass short jumper.
10. Celtics had quite a few defensive lapses that allowed Magic to use their main weapon - 3pt shooting.

In the summary, Celtics functioned as a unit of 5 for all 48 minutes and for all those minutes they showed absolute determination to win. Thank you very much.

AK

As long as I'm gonna eat some crow, I might as well get it out of the way early so I can enjoy dessert (and dessert, in this case, is mighty tasty). I predicted that Orlando would implode after their recent mid-season roster shake up. As hard as it is for the words to come out, I have to say Congratulations Stan Van Gundy! for pulling this freshly overhauled team together so quickly. He knew what kind of players he needed/wanted in his system and he and GM Smith went out and got them and the players all seem to have bought in (except maybe Arenas).

After looking like we were going to win an easy one, it turned into a nailbiter. We won the first quarter (albeit by not as much as we should have), Orlando won the next two quarters but we won the all-important championship round 4th quarter. Analysts have said that when Orlando is shooting and hitting 3s they are extremely tough to beat. Last night, they took 27 3s out of a total of 74 fga (36%) and hit almost 41% of them, outrebounded us and still lost! Another theory shot to hell.

1. Ray Allen now has shot 50% or better in the last 12 consecutive games. I know that's far ahead of his nearest active competitor, but I wonder what the NBA record is for a guard? Considering how many of his shots come from downtown, that's amazing. Everybody talks about how beautiful Ray's shot is. One of the reasons his shot is so good is because of his footwork. When he catches the ball, usually, his feet are already in proper shooting alignment. After that, it's just a matter of rising up and stroking it. Last night we saw Ray Allen throw in one off balance shot after another after another. What a display. Reggie Miller, who is about to be caught by Ray for most 3pt fgm, repeatedly said last night that "at 35 years old, Ray Allen is still the best shooter in the NBA". Very classy statement by a pretty damn good shooter himself. Call'em like you see'em, Reggie, call'em like you see'em.

2. Jeb wrote that Turk is a helluva shooter. I think he might have confused Turk, who was 4-11, with Ryan Anderson, who was 5-8 and 4-6 from 3 (all us white boys look the same). He's 6'10" and was shooting from 2-3 feet past the arc. I can't argue with his performance last night (he also got 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive), but I sill prefer my bigs to be closer to the basket. Great performance off the bench for a player who came from Phoenix not that long ago.

3. We shot 60% for the game. 60%!!! I was afraid, when I saw we weren't going to have another 92-88 type game, that we were playing into Orlando's hands, but our offensive efficiency is awesome to behold. Six Celtic players in double figures.

4. Offensive efficiency notwithstanding, we had 10 steals vs 3 for Orlando, 6 blocks vs 2 for Orlando (Dwight Howard had 0 blocks. Mark this day down in your calendar). That is defensive intensity. Hmmm, who might be responsible for ratcheting up our defensive intensity? I'm sooooo glad he's back and is playing like he never left.

5. Nate is now officially on my shitlist. I am counting the hours before Delonte West comes back. Counting. The. Hours. I'm thinking Doc keeps his hair as short as he does so he won't pull it out watching Nate make some of the dumbass decisions he makes. He just doesn't know how to run our offense. He knows how to shoot and last night, just 2-8, he wasn't even doing that well.

6. Dwight Howard was 13-18 from the line last night. While hardly an Allen-esque performance it's still an upgrade for him. He also showed us a few Duncan-like bankshots from the wing. If he adds that to his repertoire and does it consistently, that's a HUGE addition to his arsenal since he puts it on the floor well for a big guy too. The more we have to respect that bankshot and come out for it, the more layups and dunks he's going to get. The victim will be Shaq, since he doesn't have the footspeed to come out and then retreat. Baby? Absolutely. Perk? Yep. Erden? D12 won't have to go outside to grind our Turk into paste. I like Semih and I know he's a tough guy, but we're talking about singlehandedly holding off a water buffalo stampede here and he just doesn't have the bulk and muscle to do it.

7. If Gilbert Arenas doesn't pull his head out of his ass and get with SVG's program soon, I think there'll be another Orlando trade this year. Based upon Arenas' history and the amount of time his head has already spent up his ass career-to-date, I wouldn't buy property in FL if I were Gilbert.

8. Paul Pierce played great defense all night. It wasn't a coincidence that Turk had a hand in his face all night and only took 7 fga. Pierce didn't work his offensive game as much last night, but that's ok. Ray and KG were getting it done and shutting down Turk disrupts their offense significantly.

9. I loved that, with just 11 seconds left in the game and up by 5, our defense wasn't giving up anything. It would have been easier to prevent the 3s, allow them layups and get the ball back and shoot free throws but we didn't. Pierce's blocked shot with 2.8 left was the final exclamation point on how much ganas was in this game for him.

The road to the Finals still comes through Boston.

bob

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2. Jeb wrote that Turk is a helluva shooter. I think he might have confused Turk, who was 4-11, with Ryan Anderson, who was 5-8 and 4-6 from 3 (all us white boys look the same). He's 6'10" and was shooting from 2-3 feet past the arc. I can't argue with his performance last night (he also got 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive), but I sill prefer my bigs to be closer to the basket. Great performance off the bench for a player who came from Phoenix not that long ago.

Hey handsome....I never say enough words or I say too many! I was mainly thinking of that off balance, very well defended deep in the shot clock three with Hedo. And to be honest my wife's show heavy premiered on a an e last night and i was watchin that wih great interest. She did so good!

There are so many good analysts on this board. It definitely beats reading a newspaper.

If I had to pinpoint two general themes (as opposed to individual plays) that ultimately made the difference, they would be as follows:

On offense, the Celtics moved the ball and ran through multiple options so well that they were able to score twice as many points in the paint as Orlando (52-26). And they did it without incurring a single block from one of the NBA's premier shot-blockers, Dwight Howard. A spectacular example of offensive efficiency, eventuating in 60% shooting.

On defense, they contained Jameer Nelson, who had absolutely killed them with Rondo out on Christmas. Yes, they held him to 9 points and 5 assists, but that's the tip of the iceberg. They constantly interrupted his rhythm by helping Rondo with what I call their "dart and recover" defense in which a Celtics big feints toward an opposing guard to freeze him just long enough for Rondo to get over or under a pick. That defensive gambit sometimes leaves the opposing player open ever so briefly, and the Magic made some improbable threes as a result. But the fact that no Magic player except Howard established a consistent inside game hurt Orlando at the end because they shot 49% with their two-pointers but only 41% with their three-pointers. And, when the Celts denied them three-point shots down the stretch, the Magic looked confused and frustrated.

Sam

Sam wrote:There are so many good analysts on this board. It definitely beats reading a newspaper.

If I had to pinpoint two general themes (as opposed to individual plays) that ultimately made the difference, they would be as follows:

On offense, the Celtics moved the ball and ran through multiple options so well that they were able to score twice as many points in the paint as Orlando (52-26). And they did it without incurring a single block from one of the NBA's premier shot-blockers, Dwight Howard. A spectacular example of offensive efficiency, eventuating in 60% shooting.

On defense, they contained Jameer Nelson, who had absolutely killed them with Rondo out on Christmas. Yes, they held him to 9 points and 5 assists, but that's the tip of the iceberg. They constantly interrupted his rhythm by helping Rondo with what I call their "dart and recover" defense in which a Celtics big feints toward an opposing guard to freeze him just long enough for Rondo to get over or under a pick. That defensive gambit sometimes leaves the opposing player open ever so briefly, and the Magic made some improbable threes as a result. But the fact that no Magic player except Howard established a consistent inside game hurt Orlando at the end because they shot 49% with their two-pointers but only 41% with their three-pointers. And, when the Celts denied them three-point shots down the stretch, the Magic looked confused and frustrated.

Sam

sam,

Right on target, as usual.

Bass started off killing us inside, but then took it outside. Anderson grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds, but only converted himself on 2 (I think). The rest he brought out. Not only did we do a much better job inside than them, we also out fastbreaked them.

Our perimeter defense was outstanding last night. Just one example of that is the final KG steal off of Nelson. He was way out on top putting pressure on the ball and forcing Nelson to give it up.

bob

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jeb wrote:2. Jeb wrote that Turk is a helluva shooter. I think he might have confused Turk, who was 4-11, with Ryan Anderson, who was 5-8 and 4-6 from 3 (all us white boys look the same). He's 6'10" and was shooting from 2-3 feet past the arc. I can't argue with his performance last night (he also got 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive), but I sill prefer my bigs to be closer to the basket. Great performance off the bench for a player who came from Phoenix not that long ago.

Hey handsome....I never say enough words or I say too many! I was mainly thinking of that off balance, very well defended deep in the shot clock three with Hedo. And to be honest my wife's show heavy premiered on a an e last night and i was watchin that wih great interest. She did so good!

jeb,

What was the show? And why didn't you tell us about it aforehand?

bob

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bobheck

its called heavy, its on a an e...and i SHOULD have told yall. She worked really hard on it and it turned out great! Monday at 9 on a an e!

Jeb, I'd be tuning in for Heavy next week but I'll be in Philly at CTCA. Any chance A and E will run it any other time this week? Is the show like, She aint heavy, she's my sister...or what?

Wow Jeb. I just caught outtakes of Heavy on the web at http://www.aetv.com/heavy/index.jsp

Some show!

If your wife would ever like ton talk with the person I think is the best in the USA at weight loss, I'd be glad to refer her to Sylvia Goldman, a 92 year old genius - yes, 92! -who thirty years ago kicked Oprah out of her class because she had the wrong attitude and Sylvia did not want Oprah to sully Sylvia's hard won reputation. To read testimonials for Sylvia's course, Living Thin, go to my website www.hkacup.com and click on Living Thin. Endorsements will show up, many of them from the top doctors at John Hopkins. Your wife and her weight loss patients might do well to watch one of Sylvia's videos.

worcester

its about morbidly obese people and their struggle to lose and keep off weight.

She really did a great job.

She really did do a great job!!!

Jeb,

I just watched the entire Jody and Tom episode, and I can't believe how amazing it is. Usually we see Jenny Craig type snippets of before-and-after weight loss stories. They're designed to encouraged us to buy a service.

This is totally different. It's a slice of life, with the emphasis on saving and extending life. It deals with day-in and day-out process. The viewer (at least this one) feels every emotion and finds himself rooting for the principals as though they were a basketball team.

This is total reality, including some backsliding and the frustration that goes with it. It's about far more than weight loss, because it deals with resilience of spirit. And ultimately it's a lesson in the fact that triumph is very fulfilling but even triumph can't stand alone; it has to be viewed as a beginning.

Please let Dawn know what a massively impressive piece of work this is. It succeeds at every level, and it's one of the most inspirational programs I've ever seen. Hearty unqualified congratulations to Dawn on a major achievement.

Sam

agree with Sam, thanks for the wonderful posts and analysis, all. MUCH better than the paper, or ESPN, or CSNNE, or ...

isn't KG's returning like that a Godsend ? !!! i remember some posters suggesting when he was out that we can't or shouldn't rely on one guy too much, we need to be able to shuffle the puzzle pieces and maintain our winning ways no matter who's involved, but that's not the way i see it. KG is a key and essential guy if we're to maintain top tier status and make sure the road through the playoffs runs through Boston. it is GREAT NEWS that he's back, and returned so seamlessly.

Michael

Sam

I concur. she has such a big heart and was tore up again and again by dealing with all the hustles and grifts of these poor addicted people.

Dawn is an empath and they would really open up for her. She grew to care about these people deeply.

Many of them have backslid all the way but a FEW have made real significant lifestyle changes. What an accomplishment.

Jeb,

To someone who's had a long history of being bothered by 30 pounds and repeated backsliding, those lifestyle changes are absolutely major.

Bigygme,

So many people think of it as the return of a player and the direct products of his performance. It's far more than that, because KG's return has so many implications for this team. Implications for the system they can play at both ends. Implications for spacing the floor and moving the ball. Implications for sustained energy. Implications for intensity at crunch time. Implications for the performance of teammates. Implications for the bench. And so forth.

Sam