2 Down 80 Wins To Go!

I would suggest this as part of our opening page for Game On each game.
Check it out!!!!!!

Boston Celtics - it's game time
NBA 2008.03.15 Celtics-Bucks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CuBtxNz78M

I would have preferred a more cohesive game but when you play a team that is playing sloppy you tend to fall into the same pattern. That is what happen to the Celt's for most of the first half. The starters regrouped in the beginning of the second half and put the game away.

Star of The Game: Doc Rivers for allowing the second team and the rookies quality time to play and bond. Last year with the same kind of game, you would be hard pressed to see any new guy or rookie playing. Perhaps Doc has learned a good lesson, lets hope he does not forget!

Stars Of The Game

Starters: I must go with KG for he had the fire in the belly tonight directing defense and popping from the outside, a great sign. He also played a considerable amount of time with no ill effects from last night. Perkins had a unbelievable game with 4 blocked shots, 7 rebounds and 9 points. He looked good with his jumper from 12-15 ft. Rondo was Rondo, a double double.

Bench: Again I have to go with Williams. Rebounding 9 with 6 defensive rebounds, scoring 12 points. Was not afraid to get his nose dirty. He could be a big surprise come spring. Disappointed that Daniels did not come alive tonight.

Friday should be a good test or let me put it another way, a good work out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

112288

11

These doodes are killas. Serious mean streak.

Jeb

Life is good indeed.

The C's are cruising, the Cavs are s(t)inking like whale feces and the Yankees just lost game one of the WS to the upstart Phillies. Some way to christen the brand new billion dollar Yankee Stadium, fellas.

Doesn't get any better than this.

Bring on da bulls! NEXT!!!

GC

P.S. And no trolls in sight! Many thanks to Sam/the gang of four who run this very classy joint.

At least now we don't have Ben Gordon to deal with until we play the Pistons. Lual Deng is back and I'm sure Derrick Rose will occupy much of Rondo's time. Could there be more excitement than the play offs with them last Spring. That would be hard to imagine!-MD.

I don’t get you how watch Ben Gordon do what he did in the playoffs last year and then DON’T resign him. No clue what Chicago was thinking.

Celtics looked great on defense last night, but I hope they don’t become the NY Knicks with everyone standing around the 3 point line all night long. Even thought they were hitting those shots at a good clip, it is still not the kind of offense that wins championships. Let chalk it up to those were the shots that were showing last night, and it is an aberration –as opposed to their new philosophy.

The Garden was ROCKING to start the game last night. Rasheed got a very loud cheer – same with Daniels. A few boos for Glen Davis, and when KG came out the place went off. Going to be a great season.

BTW….if you are in the Boston area, I recommend you sign up for the mailing list at Celtics.com. Nearly every game day they release some tickets, usually very good seats at face value – and it is a good way to make a last minute decision to get some good seats. I got a pair of club seats for last night for $120 each – and they were right at center court.

mrkleen

you are one lucky dude, if I was in the Boston area I'd certainly give it a shot as it is, I had half court seats too......21 inches from each end of the 42 inch flat screen. In the first row too.

Tommy was a hoot last night

like the line about Chandler

" I think he should have gone to college so he would know how to count to three. "

beat

Also noted the Cavs stat last night.

Shaq played 25 minutes. And for each minute he was on the floor the Cavs lost a point. His +/- was -25.

Wonder what Bron is really thinking. And Shaq too for that matter,

Brown will be canned by Christmas. Ferry may be out soon after.

beat

I just realized how deep this Celtics sickness is. I just thanked the Celtics for letting me spend $250 dollars on tickets and another $100 on food and beer.

Then again, I did that for years while watching Dino Radja, Darren Daye, and Gerald Green – so I guess it only makes sense that I am happy to do it to watch the best team in the NBA.

Great home opener last night. Thanks again to Sam and the moderators for putting this all together sans the trolls.

Sam, I know it's early but are you beginning to have flashbacks to some of the Russell teams with this current team. I read your recollections on those teams (which were totally awesome, btw) and the way this team is jelling and fitting together like a puzzle, I'm sensing there has to be some similarities.

Also, to everyone, do you have/keep any statistics on meaningfully measuring bench scoring/effort? If so, what are they? I noticed last night, for example, the bench scored 30 of 92 points. I know you will have to factor in trash time for extreme games like last night. While I'm sure it was above average bench performance by feel, what may be some cold hards statistics of interest.? I'm thinking out loud here but the typical outscoring the other teams bench stat is OK, but that depends on many things relative to the starters, who they are playing, etc. Sorry, I'm rambling but hopefully everyone will get my point.

Forum looks great. Again, thank you and Go Celtics!!

Kleen

Get up off Dino. Dino was my boy.

Jeb

Jeb

I remember a Dino quote about his defense (or lack thereoff)

"My man can't stop me either."

beat

jeb65 wrote:Kleen

Get up off Dino. Dino was my boy.

Jeb

What a sad and dark chapter in Celtics History. And actually, Dino was just about the best of the bunch. (oh, and his wife was HOT)

To quote the great Hank Snow "It dont hurt anymooooorrreeee."

Jeb

dbrown,

You can get a fairly good idea of bench stats by googling "NBA scores" and then clicking on any of several sites like Yahoo or NBA.com. They show boxscores of all the games. Just click on the date you want.

In addition to the raw scoring figures, it's interesting to look at the +/- figures. I place no store in those +/- data in evaluating individual players because the data involve COMBINATIONS of players. But the +/- stats for the bench players are usually similar to one another because they're playing in the same combination. Same for the starters. And the +/- figures, because they relate to points gained or lost vs. the opposition while a given combination is on the floor, do offer some idea of the performances (offense and defense).

In the Cleveland game, the +/- for the starters tended to be a bit on the minus side, while the bench definitely gained a lot of points on their Cavs counterparts.

Against Charlotte, the pattern was reversed, although the final stats are a bit muddied by the extended garbage time. I happened to look at the +/- stats at halftime. The starters had major plus figures, while none of the bench players was on the positive side of the ledger.

I think the bench could very well be the deciding factor in the Celtics' championship possibilities this season. It actually goes beyond the stats because this bench has such veteran poise that, unlike most "caretaker" benches, this one can have serious impact on a game. So far, I've enjoyed watching the bench play as much as I've enjoyed the starters...and it will probably be even better when Scal and Davis are once again available.

I've posted several times that I believe this team is put together more like the Russell teams than has been the case with any other Celtics team since the Russell days. Dominant big guy, dynamic point guard catalyst, world class shooter, one or two great sixth men, and on and on. One thing I'm liking is that the current team seems a little more prone to opportunistic fast-breaking than than past Celtics teams. Nothing like the Russell Years (we'll never see that caliber of fast break again), but still very encouraging.

I'm glad you liked my little history of the Russell Years. It certainly brought back a lot of memories to do it. Thanks for the kind words.

Sam

Mrkleen, I don't think you're crazy for spending that kind of money on club seats. At least you got them for cheap! I spent nearly $200/ticket for those seats last year. They do bring your beer to you though and need I say cup holders? Plus you get all that leg room! It's worth it