POST GAME TORANTO

Celtics need to play one quarter at a time, then one game at a time and start gaining rhythm. Good Game C's!
As for Rondo:
With just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter of Wednesday night's game against the Raptors, Rajon Rondo drove to the basket and was fouled hard by Linas Kleiza of the Raptors, landing hard on his right wrist.

Rondo remained on the floor under the basket for several minutes while team doctor Brian McKeon and trainer Ed Lacerte examined his right hand and wrist very closely.

Rondo remained in the game to take his two free throws, missing the first and making the second. The Celtics valuable point guard was escorted off the court and into the Celtics locker room for further examination. The team announced early in the fourth quarter that Rondo was suffering from a sore right wrist but "could" return if needed.

E'Twaun Moore took his place in the lineup.

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WEEI 850 RECAP

FAST BREAK: CELTICS SNAP LOSING STREAK, BEAT RAPTORS
By Paul Flannery

The Celtics have been desperate for a strong start and they finally got one on Wednesday against Toronto, opening up a 21-7 lead and making nine of their first 16 shots. They rode that early lead through some rough patches in the second quarter and earned a much-needed 96-73 win over Toronto, snapping a five-game losing streak.

It wasn’t all good for the Celtics as Rajon Rondo was put on the ground by Linas Kleiza with a hard foul late in the third quarter. Rondo landed awkwardly on his right wrist and didn’t return to the game. Kleiza was originally assessed a Flagrant-2 foul on the play, but it was downgraded to a Flagrant-1 after a review.

The Celtics opened up a 29-14 lead in the first quarter and while they eventually cooled down, the Raptors didn’t have nearly enough offense to make up the ground with leading scorer Andrea Bargnani out of the lineup with a strained left calf. However the win came, the Celtics will take it. They’re back in action on Friday against the Suns.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

– Rajon Rondo didn’t get his first assist until the 6:01 mark of the third quarter, but it was hard to argue with his floor game. Rondo went to the basket repeatedly and made seven of his first eight shots. He also went to the free throw line seven times in the first half and made five.

– Kevin Garnett came out aggressive with six points in the first four minutes and 10 points by halftime. Garnett finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and while he’s still having trouble finishing inside, this continued a run of stronger games for Garnett.

– Paul Pierce only scored eight points but he had seven assists and four rebounds. With Rondo looking to score, Pierce played the role of facilitator and did it well.

– The Celtics hit the defensive glass and didn’t turn the ball over. A very good combination.

– Mickael Pietrus and Brandon Bass formed an effective two-man bench, combing for all 19 points for the reserves prior to fourth quarter garbage time. Pietrus finished with 12 points, all on 3-pointers and Bass had 13 and nine rebounds.

WHAT WENT WRONG

– When Rondo checked out of the game to start the second quarter, the Celtics offense reverted to neutral and they went scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. Their offensive woes continued even when Rondo checked back in as they shot 6-for-20 in the quarter and their 15-point lead was sliced to six at the half.

– Ray Allen didn’t make his first shot until midway through the third quarter. The Celtics made an effort to get Allen open in the second half but he only found the range on only two of seven attempts.

– Pierce missed at least three layups and two in the first half would have been dunks in years past. His game is coming back to him, but he clearly still has more work to do. In addition to Pierce, the Celtics continue to have problems finishing inside.

A stat from the broadcast that surprised me was that the Celtics bench has played the second fewest minutes among benches in the NBA. I didn't think it was that low.

With each passing game it looks even more obvious that picking up Brandon Bass was a very good idea.

In some ways, I didn't think this game showed as much improvement on the part of the Celtics as the score would suggest. Toronto missed a ton of wide open perimeter shots (especially in the opening quarter) that good teams would make in their sleep. Ray's still finding it difficult to get open, much of which I attribute to the failure of the Celtics to set effective picks for him on the curl. Often, he's running himself ragged only to have to pass the ball off at the culmination of the curl. The interior defense was okay, but it really wasn't sternly tested by the Raptors. (By the way, did anyone else get a kick out someone's description of this game as the Raptors vs. the Dinosaurs?)

But I did see some bona fide glimmers in the game. Incidentally, I do NOT define a glimmer as simply something the Celtics did well in a game. By my definition, it's something that either represents an important new development or is an extension of a trend that's been building with increasing consistency over a few games. So the fact that Rondo had a good scoring game would not be a glimmer in my view because it's not particularly new. And the fact that Pierce had a fistful of assists wouldn't qualify either because it would have to become more of a consistent trend to do so. Anyway, here are my glimmers for this game, in no particular order:

• Doc has definitely chucked the two unit rotation in favor of what I'd call a staggered rotation. (No, I don't mean that the Celtics were staggering out there.) Starting with KG's stints of five minutes in and five minutes out, Doc seems to substitute another bench player at about the six or seven minute mark, another at the eight or nine minute mark, etc. By the time the ten minute mark comes around, KG's ready to reenter the game and the substitution pattern is reversed.

What this means is that, after the first five minutes of each half and until crunch time, we're likely to see combinations of three starters and two bench players or two starters and three bench players a lot of the time. Aside from reducing fatigue among the older starters, this rotation means the Celtics are very likely to have a fair amount of athleticism on the floor for at least three-quarters of the game and to have at least a fair amount of experience on the floor for virtually the entire game.

An important implication is that most of the players have to get used to playing with most of the other players, and I believe that's a major reason why the offensive execution, in particular, has been sloppy. I also believe that's something that is very likely to improve, hopefully significantly, with the passage of time. Given the spate of opinions that Danny break up the team early and often, I'm not sure whether many fans have the patience to wait and see how this strategy works out in the long run.

• Speaking of execution, the turnover situation seems to be improving. In the first four games of the season, the Celtics averaged 16.0 turnovers a game. In the next four games, they averaged 14.0 turnovers a game. In the most recent five games, they have averaged 13.8 turnovers a game, and in two of those games they only committed nine. So it appears that their average number of turnovers may have stabilized around 14. I can live with that sort of trend.

• For several games now, it has appeared to me that three non-core playery
• With this game, Doc seems once again to be emphasizing the recently moribund inside-out game, and it worked beautifully because the Celtics had two penetrators in Rondo and Pierce. KG, Bass, Ray and Pietrus are always ready and willing to fire away successfully from the outside. Maybe Dooling too????

That's pretty much it for glimmers from this game. This glimmer thing is not some sort of gimmick. Regardless of what name one chooses to attach to it, I believe that the way a team improves is by an accumulation of bits and pieces over time. That's why I try to take the long view of the season rather than panicking after every bad game or exulting after every good game. It's the long haul that counts.

Three glimmers certainly does not a season make. But, given the very conservative way I define "glimmers," a three-glimmer game is certainly acceptable in pointing toward the long haul.

Go Celtics!

Sam

Not much to say other than I am glad they got a win.

When you turn over the team every year there will always be chemistry problems. I do think that this years group are pretty good.

Less minutes for the starters is a good thing.

I like to see GS start.

Dboss

I hope Rondo doesn't suffer any lasting affects from the injury. At least it was a win. We don't know how plentiful those will be this year.

MD.

Great game. Celtics controlled from the opening tap to the end, and did so with lots of different players and rotations.

First off, hope Rajon is ok. He took a tough fall, so here is hoping he can get back on his feet soon.

Couple of observations.

Paul Pierce was off again, but unlike previous games where he disappears when his shot isnt falling - last night, he passed well, rebounded well, played good D - so he was still engaged, which is a great thing to see.

KG - nothing great, but a well rounded game. He still looks a step slower than last year, but played a solid game.

Bass, Pietrus, Steamer, JON all played solid games. Moore isnt scoring much, but he is also not turning the ball over...which is better than you can say for Bradley and Dooling.

One thing I have noticed is that the Celtics need a practice with the big man, focusing on picks. Ray Allen still has his stroke, but he is missing shots because he cannot get open looks and has to put the ball on the floor against very athletic young players. Brandon Bass, Greg Steimsma, even Pietrus and Daniels - have all got to get in the gym and work on screens for a day or two. Ray needs more open looks if the Celtics want to get any production from him.

Bottom line, Celtics get back on track. Maybe this will calm the drone of drums calling for a break up.....at least for a day or two.

Missed the entire game....

Was at Marcus's game and they won their 11th in a row 11-0 for the season. Played Watertown which is a much bigger school and won going away 75-47. (24-6 after one) We are playing extreemly well. Marcus gets in about 7-8 minutes does OK but nothing big.

As for the C's a win is a win and the good start was nice to see BUT
this is Toronto we are talking about.

Lets do this againt at least an upper level team. Got Chicago 2 times coming up, love to see a W then!

beat

The good news is that we won. The bad news is that we still haven't beaten a good team. In fact, Andrea Bargnani didn't even play. Oh what the hell, let's just talk about the good news.

I enjoyed the different strategy employed here. Over the past years we've seen Rondo as the floor general who created opportunities for his teammates and fed them passes while deferring his own offense. Last night it was Pierce who did that. Very active with the ball, he penetrated and kicked the ball out to an open shooter with great effect. Rondo, on the other hand, was a one man fast break.

1. Rondo was a blur. 15 fastbreak points for the Celts vs 5 for Toronto and that was all Rondo's doing. Our problem over the past few games, among others, was that we weren't getting enough fga. There's nothing like running like a greyhound to fix that, huh? We need more of this. Lots more, because it works.

2. KG played a good, solid game last night but, and I hate to beat a dead horse here, he has no lift left. Neither does JON.

3. Daniels still can't buy a basket, but the offense is more coherent when he's running point in Rondo's absence than with anybody else at the helm. What does that say about Dooling? 3 assists equaled Rondo's output in 16 fewer minutes, but that doesn't take into account Rondo's focus on putting the ball in the hoop himself. Daniel's scoring woes are well known and documented at this point, but he's a swiss army knife. He's good for a lot of other things.

4. What a great pickup Pietrus is! I questioned his IQ when he was signed, but he is showing I was premature. He is playing great defense at multiple positions and raining 3s. He's Posey with more muscle.

5. The Honey Badger was back last night. I still cringe when Bradley takes a jumper, but his on-the-ball defense is hard to believe it's so good. Opposing offenses can't get into their halfcourt set until time has wound down to the last dozen seconds or so because Bradley is harassing their pointguard fullcourt. Lift your head to see if your teammates are running their plays at your peril, because Bradley will be poking at the ball while you do that. Most of his 8 points came in the paint. I'm very ok with that since they come off of movement and penetration.

6. Steamer looks a little more lost out there than he had in his debuts. He's still moving to the ball, still making his presence known, but with less confidence and swiftness. Still, he's a plus, no doubt about it, and should have a nice career in the NBA. Hopefully, in green. On a team that is struggling with their outside shooting, it's nice to see him take and hit outside shots. Doc needs to give this kid more minutes, if for no other reason than to save the two old warhorses he's been riding so far for the real battles ahead.

7. I think we got to see who JJJ is last night. He's just not strong enough to hold his position in the low post. He just can't defend an NBA PF low. But he has a nice stroke from 16-17' and he's not afraid to take it. He also had one of my beloved offensive rebounds, swooping in on a missed shot. What he lacks in strength (at least so far in his career) he should offset with his lively body. He should attack the boards. He has the length and energy to be good at it. Next year he'll be 10-15 pounds heavier and it will make all the difference.

8. We only had 9 TOs last night. That's fantastic. A big improvement, not only over season-to-date but over 3 Amigos Era to-date. We have had a high-turnover, high fg% offense for a few years now. If we run more we'll have more fga and a better fg%. If we can run these breaks without throwing it away, we'll be back where we need to be in no time.

9. A solid game for Bass, after a few bad games. He played 31 minutes, which is starter minutes, but anchors the 2nd unit a lot. Not a peep out of him about not starting either, even though he was a starter last year. I love this guy. I don't care if he never passes again, he fills so many other needs for us. Best pickup, dollar-for-dollar, pound-for-pound I've seen in a while. We gave up two players we had no power over, unrestricted free-agent Big Baby and unrestricted free-agent Von Wafer, for this stud? Way to go Danny.

10. Ray Allen is not getting enough shots. Ray Allen isn't getting away from his man enough. The Celtics aren't setting effective picks for Ray Allen. The man is a human sniper rifle. We should be doing whatever it takes to break him free. Even if he's shooting and missing he's still opening up the floor from just the threat of him shooting.

Let's hope Rondo's ok, because the offense does not run anywhere near as well when he's out.

One win at a time.

bob

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Hi,
Nice W in double digits. Speaking about improvements. IMHO, the biggest improvement that I saw was in OKC game, especially on D-end.

AK