POST GAME MIAMI

So where do you begin...........This had to be the Best Team Ball I have ever saw the Celtics play this year. Everyone who played contributed to this win Sasha with 2 big 3's, Steam Boat with 2 key blocks, 8 pts and 7 RB's.

We held Miami to shooting 44.8% while at the other end we shot a very HOT 60.6

We out rebounded them 40 to 34. One key was our lower TO of 12.



NEXT GAME - TOMORROW 8pm HOME - ATLANTA - CSNE/NBA League Pass

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POST GAME WEEI 850

FAST BREAK: KEVIN GARNETT, CELTICS TAME HEAT AGAIN
By Ben Rohrbach




On 60.6 percent shooting, led by Kevin Garnett (24 points, 9 rebounds), the Celtics defeated the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seeded Heat 115-107 for the second time in nine days, taking a 2-1 series lead with one matchup left between the possible playoff opponents in the penultimate game of the season.

The Celtics (33-24) won their third straight and eighth of their last 10 games, moving within two games of the idle Pacers for third in the Eastern Conference. Paul Pierce (26 points) and Rajon Rondo (18 points, 15 assists) helped the C’s set a new season high for points scored.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Opening statement: When the first quarter came to a close, the top six Celtics rotation players all had between 4-6 points, handing the Heat a 33-22 deficit. The C’s shot 61.1 percent (11-18 FG) offensively, holding Miami to 42.9 percent (9-21 FG) defensively. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, was Boston’s 13-5 rebounding advantage after the first 12 minutes.

Three party: Taking advantage of a Heat defense that entered the game ranked 28th in 3-point defense, the Celtics converted 7-of-10 treys in the first half (9-14 for the game), establishing a 65-57 lead at the break on 61.5 percent shooting as a team. Pierce and Sasha Pavlovic led the effort, each converting a pair of 3-pointers.

Two-guard duo: As for the Bradley and Ray Allen shooting guard combination, the pair combined for 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 10 points in the a first quarter that saw both the defensive-first Bradley lineup and the offensively boosted Allen group. Not only that, but they frustrated Dwyane Wade to the tune of 20 points on 21 shots — lowlighted by a fourth-quarter technical foul after he fell for a Rondo fake 20 feet from the basket.

WHAT WENT WRONG

A king with no court The favorite for this season’s NBA MVP honor, LeBron James dominated in a losing effort. He amassed 36 points (11-23 FG, 13-14 FT), seven assists and seven rebounds, getting little help outside of Mario Chalmers (18 points).

Heat stroke: The Celtics led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter, but their torrid pace was impossible to maintain, making a pair of Heat runs to close the gap understandable. Wade started 7-of-10 from the field, scoring 16 early points and leading a 9-0 stretch that narrowed the C’s lead to 54-46. After the Celtics built the lead back to 15, James capped an 11-4 run to close the half with a wide open 3-pointer on a defensive lapse. In all, Miami shot 13-for-22 and scored 35 second-quarter points.

Paint by numbers: It’s a good thing the Celtics shot so well, because the vast majority of their scoring came outside the paint. Meanwhile, Miami scored 52 points in that area, aided by 13 offensive rebounds.
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Rapid Reaction: Celtics 115, Heat 107

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com


HOW THE GAME WAS WON
Paul Pierce scored a team-high 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists, while Kevin Garnett chipped in
24 points (on super efficient 11 of 14 shooting) with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks as Boston shot 60.6 percent (43 of 71 overall) and outlasted the Heat in a clash of Eastern Conference rivals. Rajon Rondo added 18 points and 15 assists, while Brandon Bass finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. LeBron James scored a game-high 36 points for Miami.

TURNING POINT (PART I)
The Celtics absolutely dominated the final three minutes of the first quarter (an 11-0 run), then scored on each of their first five possessions of the second quarter while building a 16-point cushion. The game had been tied at 22, but Boston generated six free throws, Greg Stiemsma made a jumper, and Paul Pierce added a trifecta before the end of the first frame. A pair of 3-pointers from Sasha Pavlovic highlighted the offensive flurry for Boston to start the second quarter and Boston's lead ballooned as high as 18. But the Heat weren't about to roll over.

NOT HALF BAD, BEYOND THE TURNOVERS
The Celtics were up 17 with five minutes to go in the first half, but all it took was a turnover that gave Dwyane Wade a dunk in transition to give the Heat some renewed life. A Mario Chalmers jumper and another Wade dunk off a strong drive to the rim highlighted a 9-0 burst in little more than a minute and the lead dwindled to eight (where it remained at halftime). For a Boston team that shot 60.5 percent in the first half (23 of 38 overall), allowing the Heat back into it with turnovers (7 giveaways for 12 points in the first half) tempered an otherwise fantastic offensive half. The 65 points tied Boston's 2012 first-half high and set a new mark for most given up by Miami before the intermission this season.

IT'S ALL ABOUT 18 (FOR RONDO)
Rondo pushed his double-digit assist streak to 18 games during Tuesday's triumph. His finest stretch might have come late in the third quarter with the Heat desperately trying to get over the hump. Rondo assisted on four straight Boston buckets, highlighted by a little alley-oop lob to Stiemsma when he rolled free to hoop. Rondo also looked for his own offense in the frame (connecintng on 3 of 5 shots for 9 points), including a little elbow jumper with 1:50 to go that pushed the lead back to double digits. But, again, the Heat wouldn't go quietly.

TURNING POINT (PART II)
The Heat quickly made it a one-point game in the fourth quarter, forcing Boston to keep coming up with big shots. Bass hit a little turnaround in a one-point game. With the lead at 2, Ray Allen found some space and canned a 3-pointer from the left wing for a 94-89 advantage with 9:01 to go. But it was Garnett that ensured no comeback...

BOLD PLAYS OF THE GAME
... Garnett made four consecutive mid-range jumpers over a 1:41 span, turning a five-point lead into an 11-point cushion. Pierce added a fadeaway before Rondo up-faked Wade into a foul (Wade earned a technical for complaining) and before you could blink Boston's lead was at 12 with 5:18 to play... The Heat actually got it back down to 5 with two minutes to go, but -- guess who? yes, Garnett again -- answered with a turnaround jumper to essentially seal it.

SOLID NIGHT FOR STEAMBOAT
Oh sure, he had the usual bouts with referee whistles, but Stiemsma chipped in 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal over 19:34. He made 4 of the 5 shots he took and finished plus-10 ... The Celtics continue to run with only a three-man bench (Stiemsma, Allen, and Sasha Pavlovic) during big games.

WHAT IT MEANS
Well, that was entertaining. Defense took a bit of a back seat as Boston and Miami engaged in an old-fashioned shootout. The Celtics were in complete control while blistering the floor early on, but simply couldn't hold onto the momentum (usually turnovers giving Miami some fire with loud buckets in transition). Boston would have preferred it have been easier, especially with a back-to-back looming with potential playoff foe Atlanta on Wednesday at TD Garden, but they stuck with the 2011-12 season script and had to grind out the win in a game with a playoff vibe. These two teams battle one more time in Boston later this month and a playoff series would be highly entertaining if it materialized.

I can't resist commenting on my "favorite" stat: the +/- ratings. As I've said many times, it's a legitimate way to evaluate five-player combinations. But as proof that its use to evaluate individual players is akin to a life sentence in a cess pool, tonight Kevin Garnett had a -2.

Oh, and I don't think for a second that defense took a back seat. In fact, the Celtics played very strong half court defense most of the game. They were just up against some great one-on-one players. And, in the second half, I thought the heat packed the middle and forced the Celtics to rely mainly on jumpers. The Celtics just happened to shoot their jumpers beautifully. If anyone wants a sobering perspective in all this jubilation, it's the fact that relying so much on jumpers can eventually bite a team in the caboose.

I've been talking a lot about runs lately, and this segment of the season has been a virtual tutorial on how runs can fuel the rhythms of the game. Doc likens it to a boxing match in which one fighter carries it to the other, then absorbs the counterpunched of the other, than hands out counterpunches of his own. Carving out the initial run is certainly no guarantee that you'll win the game. But it's a heck of a lot more comfortable than being the team that has to play catchup. Because continually playing catchup is debilitating and frustrating. (Just ask Dwane Wade, aka "Mr. T.") The key in capitalizing on making the first run is never to allow the other team to counterpunch so well that they seize the momentum in the "run contest." The Celtics have been doing just that repeatedly.

From game to game, after the Celtics have established a bona fide run (as opposed to the minor ebbs and flows of the game), some people get really bent out of shape if the other team eventually pecks away and claws its way back into the game. Comments like, "They just couldn't stand prosperity" or "They gave away the advantage" strike me as amusing. Because one thing they have not "given away" is the energy the counter-attackers have expended in making the comeback. As I stated above, debilitation of the other team doesn't guarantee a win, but it certainly doesn't hurt in the long run.

I hope everyone has noticed five major alterations in the way the Celtics are playing:

• One involves halfcourt movement without the ball by people other than Ray Allen.

• Another is the combination of better ball movement (with shorter, crisper passes) and a great reduction in low-percentage cross-court passes, cutting down on turnovers. (Only three TOs in the second half last night.)

• A third is the fact that player movement has not reduced the spacing. But, instead of guys just camping out in the corners, they're cutting and curling while also ensuring that someone's in good position for a perimeter pass.

• Fourth, because they're more consistently pushing the ball upcourt and moving so well without the ball, they're getting into their offense sooner and opening up more options per possession. There are now more cases in which they can select the most promising option or run two or three options in the same possession, rather than being left with only one obvious option by default as the shot clock expires.

• Fifth, although they outrebounded the Heat last night; and although Steamer, Pierce, Ray, Bass and Sasha seem to have become more active in rebounding action, it doesn't look as though this team is going to transform miraculously into a great rebounding squad. That gives a lot of people a lot to talk about. But I believe the Celtics compensate for this deficiency by limiting the shooting percentages of opponents. For example, last night, the Heat had several offensive rebounding flurries that failed to produce points. And I'm sure there's some formula that calculates how many stymied shots offset one lost rebound.

One never stops learning as a fan of this beautiful game. For instance, I've always wondered how long it takes for championship-level chemistry to be formed. (While Russ and Company won the title in his first season, the great majority of that team had been together for quite a while when he came aboard.) The Celtics gave me one answer when, in just one season with KG and Ray aboard, they won it all with a newly formed team. Now I realize that part of the timeline of "chemistry development" involves the size of the rotation. By shortening the rotation, Doc has also shortened the time required to morph from a very tentative, sputtering team into what I consider an emerging contender. If that wasn't chemistry in action last night, I don't know what is.

I guess there are several worthy candidates for Coach of the Year. Certainly Popovich comes to mind. Even Kevin McHale is getting great results from a team that's tied together with adhesive tape. But how about Doc? Taking three season-ending injuries in his stride (Green, O'Neal, Wilcox). Shortening the rotation. Moving KG to the center position and monitoring his minutes with the five-five-five system. Making Bradley a starter and strengthening the bench with the addition of Ray. Always having at least two starters on the floor. Inserting Steamer into the lineup and sticking with him until he's almost certainly a more vital contributor than Jermaine Oneal, Wilcox, or most free agents would have been. Being the puppeteer for a team which was creaking along, and turning them into a high-energy blend of youth and experience. IF the Celtics can keep building on what they have right now throughout the rest of the regular season, I see no reason why Doc shouldn't be a serious candidate for Coach of the Year. Very simply put, the guy knows how to coach! He made great trade bait out of a lot of kids, who fetched Ray and KG, immediately leading to a championship. He dealt with serious injuries and had near-misses with guys like Scalabrine and Davis replacing guys like KG and Perk. And now, in what could easily have been conceded as just a transition year, he's got the Celtics giving notice to the rest of the league that they're definitely to be reckoned with.

And, while I'm on a pre-vacation rant, I hope everyone now knows why Doc integrated Steamer and Bradley into the rotation but chose not to give Johnson and Moore more time. The first two had specialties that could be of immediate value to the Celtics. The latter two may some day be rotation players, but at this point they're curiosity figures rather than offering contention-type potential.

I hope I'm not irritating a lot of people by getting up on a soap box just before leaving town for more than a couple of weeks. But it has been one of my objectives, in starting a basketball forum, to encourage everyone (including myself) to recognize how every basketball season can be viewed as a virtual tutorial on Dr. Naismith's game. We all have our favorites; we may differ in the pleasures we derive from following the game of pro basketball. But one thing we can hopefully agree on is that we're all soaking up knowledge that will enhance the way in which we appreciate the Celtics and/or basketball with the passage of time.

Go Celtics!

Sam

Last night, the Celtics took their collective talents to South Beach. The collective talents of the home team in South Beach wound up with the "L" and the C's took home the "W". Impressive effort running off to the big lead, then having enough in reserve to answer the Heat's several runs. Contributions from Stiemsma and Pavlovic certainly not big names or hig priced talent. However, they are being quite effective in the contributions they make to the overall team effort to help the C's keep this post All Star momentum going. THese guys just keep nose to the grindstone and keep pushing. Now the national media: Jon Barry & Chris Broussard are sitting up to take notice. As long as Boston minimizes turnovers, plays solid "D" and shares the ball that seems to be enough to get the job done. Rebounding could always improve. However, of late, even that appears to be showing signs of life. I hope the crowd at The Garden is appreciative and keeps the guys in green & white pumped. They're playing great, but after last night there could be a bit of a let down. Hopefully, Doc can come up with some key advice to guard against that.

MD!

Tweets from last night:

Evans Clinchy:On one hand: Wow, it's awesome that Rondo and Stiemsma keep hitting jumpers. On the other hand: Oh god, there's no way this is sustainable.

Evans Clinchy:If I was a grade-schooler and Chris Bosh showed up to my class, I would run away in terror.

Evans Clinchy:LeBron guarding Rondo. KG guarding LeBron. Advantages, both of them: LeBron.

Evans Clinchy:Make LeBron settle for jumpers? You beat him. Make KG settle? Good luck with that.

Ben Rohrbach:I guess the Celtics strategy is to give the ball to whoever Bosh is guarding.

Sean Grande:C’s 146-3 in New Big Three Era when leading by 16. Miami down 18 early, misses first two shots to tie. Ray 3 makes it 94-89 C's, 9:01 left.

Gary Washburn:Kevin Garnett is playing the best basketball since that 2007-08 season, has 24 so far tonight. #celtics

Sean Grande:The Celtics 60.6% from the floor was a season best and just missed the top ten of the last ten years... TOP (cont) http://tl.gd/gtifss

Rich Levine:115-107 was the score when C's lost in Miami back in December. Bizarro 2003 Pats/Bills stuff right there. But not really. What a win.

Jeff Green:I can't wait to come back and play no matter who it's for

Jessica Camerato:Only teams to beat #Heat in Miami this season (24-4) : #Hawks (Jan 2), #Bucks (Jan 22), #Grizzlies (Apr 6), #Celtics (Apr 10)

Ben Rohrbach:If you told me in December the Celtics would be this fun to watch in April, I'd think you were spending too much time with Michael Beasley.

Tom Halzack:No real surprises from Miami tonight except Mario Chalmers really has improved in a number of ways. The main one is showing up for big games

Kyle Draper:Here's the thing about the Miami Heat. They aren't dialed in a full 48 mins. They have mental lapses and that could cost them in postseason

Chris Forsberg:A good shooting night? Boston's worst shooter (percentage wise) was Ray Allen (3 of 7). Everyone else was 50% or better.

A. Sherrod Blakely:<A href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23CelticsTalk" rel=nofollow>#CelticsTalk: "We left Boston feeling awful at our performance. I don't feel as bad tonight." -#Heat forward LeBron James after #Celtics win

Sean Grande:Wheels down in Boston, Celts day ends with this: A win tonight against Atlanta puts them in home court position for the first time all year.

Tom Halzack:Points off TOs: 24-5 for Miami....Heat had 16 more shots and two more free throws- Celtics still won by 8 on the road.

Tom Halzack:* Paul Pierce also passed Wilt Chamberlin (6,065) fo 14th on the NBA’s all-time free-throws made list.

Tom Halzack:Chris Bosh: "They were a step ahead of us the whole time. They kind of knew what our schemes were defensively." Lord,did they. Ira Winderman

Here's where I got them:

http://hoopshype.com/twitter/tag/boston_celtics#ixzz1rjZRHSKc

Hi,
Sam, thanks for the rant - good comments.
I just have one. Watching those runs by Celtics I thought what a pity that KG, RA and PP are old. I believe if they were 2-3 years younger those runs'd be one long run-away train with Celtics logos. In other words, they'd be able to sustain the lead they built in the 1st quarter and keep it in the teen and twenties all the way to the end.
Sorry, I have more than one. It's about defense. I think that on many occasions Celtics slipped to "individual" defense which allowed LJ and DW to either penetrate or give a pass to a completely open teammate. When they played "team" defense Mia could only rely on heroics of the above mentioned duo.
Another thing I'd like to note is cool confidence the Celtics exhibited during the whole game. Which brings me to Doc. I agree - he has to be in the 3-4 candidates for COTY if not the top one. Yesterday he out-coached Spo hands down.

AK

Sam

that was no rant.. it was very educational.

i was sort of thinking about this while i watched the game last night, specifically the part of the game where boston had 17 and Miami 22 up to the part where boston had 42 to miami's 27..

thats one of the great things about this board, though the education began really back on the Globe's meesage board, we've got plethera of high bb IQ's, (the fact we're celtic fans alone shows that) and i feel lucky to be able to pick up that knowledge as its freely shared amongst freinds here.

as we went from behind (no not like that) to ripping them to peices on both ends i was imagining how certian members would comment on this aspect of the game, or that aspect..

its always a rewarding expierence just logging in daily around here.

tons of thanx to everyone for that- every member has to sshare some of that blame!

If basketball is a game of runs then this game was one for the books. 10-0 one way, 16-3 the other. This went on all game. We went up by 18 but they clawed back to get within 1 and then we'd pull away again and get it up to 11. Tremendous ganas shown by both teams, absolutely tremendous, but nobody showed more ganas than

1. Kevin Garnett. 24 points on 11-14, 9 boards and 2 blocks and he still did it in just 33 minutes. After the Philly game, I opined on the post-game thread "You want to win every game, but if I was Doc I'd focus on Atlanta, since they're just ahead of us with 23 losses". Apparently KG doesn't read my posts (good thing too). He was on another planet last night. My disdain for Chris Bosh is pretty much well-known by now I think and when ESPN announcer Dan Schulman noted that Bosh was 3-10 in the first half, I smirked. It started to dawn on me by the end of the game, though, that while Bosh had a poor shooting first half (as did every Heat player except for LBJ and Wade) his second half was pretty good. He attacked the offensive boards, he took advantage of his height advantage over Bass, his defensive rotations were swifter (witness his pickup of Pierce when Pierce went lefty on him. Good rotation by Bosh to pick up Pierce, who was not his man) and good defense on KG but in the end, it didn't matter. None of it. I think he could have Crazy Glued himself to KG's shooting hand and it wouldn't have mattered, KG was just in the zone. We've all seen the Manic KG, the crazy guy who punches himself in the chest and bays at the moon when he scores with a foul, who stares at refs with his eyes popping out of his head and jaw bouncing off the floor when they call a foul on him he doesn't agree with and that trash talking, the never-ending trash talking. Last night I saw little to none of that. He was throwing in shots that were unbelievable without any emotion. Every shot was taken without a hitch, without reservation and completely fluidly. Every time the Heat would make a run he'd stab them in the heart with a 20-foot dagger again and again and again, with all the intensity of a sleep walker. He got tangled up with Mike Miller and, when Miller bounced up and confronted him, KG just walked away. Normally, KG would stand his ground and drop an arsenal of F-bombs on Miller but last night he had this almost surreal calmness about him. He was phenomenal at both ends of the court, but it was a little scary. Sorta like a raging, homicidal psycho suddenly going quiet...

2. We had all 5 starting players in double figures. Everyone of them shot 50% or better. No weak links last night. Bass only had 12 points on 4-8, but he had 10 boards. Rondo had 18 points, which is a lot for him and 15 assists with only 3 turnovers. We got Rondo the Treat last night. Bradley only had 11 points, but DWade didn't go crazy (other than for short periods) and I'll take that tradeoff.

3. Tons of credit should go to our short bench. Ray with 9, Steamer with 8, Sasha with 6 with only Ray shooting under 50% (3-7) and only barely at that. Ray Allen might be coming off the bench, but he played 35 minutes vs 25 by Bradley. Steamer has really turned into a pearl found in the mud of D-League. 7 boards, 2 blocks and a steal in 20 minutes. He shot 4-5 from the elbow, from the corner and rolling to the hoop. He got blocked from behind by LBJ on a breakaway but LBJ is the only player in the league that can do that. 99% of the time Steamer has a dunk. Isn't this great? We have a 6'11" player, who isn't a toothpick, who is leading breaks! All he needs now is some respect from the refs. Dan Schulman mentioned that Doc told him that Stiemsma doesn't practice, due to his feet injuries, he just plays in games (Doc, with his usual wise-ass sense of humor, joked that Steamer had the best job in the world. No practice, just play). Think of how gritty that is of Steamer, that he can't practice but still comes in and fights like this. I'm loving this kid. Danny has to resign him because he's only going to get better as he rebounds better and gets a few calls going his way. Sasha played his usual gritty defense and hit his 3s. What's going to happen when Pietrus comes back? Sasha has rhythm and chemistry, will Doc jeopardize that by giving Pietrus Sasha's minutes? One difference between Sasha and Pietrus is that, while both love the 3 a bit too much, Sasha has been running the floor offensively and defensively and will sometimes slash to the hoop. Pietrus has been almost exclusively a bombardier.

4. I love Hubie Brown. He has forgotten more about basketball than the sum total most people learn in their lifetime. He boils things down so that anybody can understand them and he sees things. He mentioned how Pierce got 2-3 3ptrs off of transition, how Pierce is the best left-handed finisher (for a right-hander) in the league, about how Miami starting off with jumpshots instead of inside muscle hurt them. Most announcers are partisan idiots who either don't know the game or just aren't very good at explaining it. Hubie's the best. When was the last time I dedicated an entire bullet just to an announcer?

5. We shot almost 61% against one of the top defensive teams in the league. Normally when we do that we have an exceptional assist-to-fgm percentage but last night we were 23-for-43 for only 53%. Just amazing shooting by KG and Pierce. Rondo hitting his mid-range jumpers. As we all know, we go into shooting slumps where the ball just won't go in. We didn't hurt ourselves by missing open jumpers last night. If we could see the basket, it went in the basket.

In one of the tweets in a previous post by gyso, LBJ said that "We left Boston feeling awful at our performance. I don't feel as bad tonight.". Yeah, YOU had a good performance. Maybe it's just me, but if I have a good team but I get blown out by epic proportions one game I don't care. It's one game and it's not indicative of the team or our ability to compete. If we lose at home to a good team and we played pretty well, then I have a problem, because now it looks like we're not as competitive as I'd like to think we are. The Heat are 13-9 post all-star game, while we are 18-7 and he doesn't feel as bad about last night's winnable game as he did after the blowout loss? Oh yeah, now I remember, he sucked in the blowout.

If we beat Atlanta tonight, we will have homecourt advantage in a playoff series no matter what Steve's thread on this says (I'm not saying Steve's wrong, I'm saying that beating Atlanta would improve our record so we'll own our own fate).

Last night was game 1 of a 5 game stretch in just 6 days. Here comes our back-to-back-to-back. Fortunately, it's @ Toronto, @ NJ and @ Charlotte; all poor teams. The good news is that we're playing this stretch while we're hot. I wouldn't feel very good about our prospects if we had to play these three, even against these teams, in the 1st month of this short season. The bad news is that we're almost at the playoffs and we need rest.

We are peaking at just the right time.

bob

.

Well just nice to win, nicer to win against a good team on the road, and nicer yet that Bron is on that team.

MVP... are you kidding me. Guy has all the talent in the world but does he really make other players around him better?

Heck I could score some if I was allowed to take 4 or 5 steps either before I dribble or after.... or both.

Refs actually didn't call a bad game for the most part, Miami was chirping like a bunch of hungry birds after many calls, although the C's may have done some it certainly wasn't like the Heat. And actually we have shown that restraint for several games now even on the occaional total botched call, just let the ref know he missed it and get back to playing. In the long run that might help us as much as anything. Not getting a T to compound a call that isn't going to be changed anyway.

Nice to be hitting the jumpers, but we still need to take it to the hole most of the time...... then kick it out if need be.

8 man rotation with not a lot of minuites from the 8th man.

Hopefully Doc can extend the rotation to a 9th player and keep PP's minutes down a bit more tonight.

Seems every time we truly needed a hoop we got it. How many times does that happen in a game? We kept them from have big runs and made them use ALL there timeouts attempting to stop ours, which made the last minutes go by a lot faster. Imagine an NBA team with in a game with over 2 minutes to go and NO TIMEOUTS LEFT!!??

With what we have had to deal with... DOC should be a runaway winner of COY.

Lets burn some Hawk feathers this eve.

Marcus's first game this eve.... and it is spitting snow. ...go figure ,it was 80 degrees in March!

beat

PS and just to ADD, Bob I love reading your post game summary!!

Here are some nice quotes:

Zach Lowe, of Sports Illustrated:

"Bottom line: The Celtics’ season-long defense has been very good, but their defense over the last 15 games would qualify as historically good if they can duplicate it over the long haul. And “historically good” at least gives them a chance to be interesting in the playoffs, because the Celtics’ offense has continued to produce at a bottom-five level even during this hot streak.

Boston’s defense has improved in all aspects over the last 15 games, a stretch that has coincided with Avery Bradley seizing rotation minutes and then a starting spot in place of Ray Allen. Over this stretch, the Celtics have fouled less often, cleaned the defensive glass at a slightly above-average rate (an improvement for them) and held opponents to sub-40 percent shooting from the floor and sub-30 percent shooting from three-point range. The only metric they haven’t improved upon over the last 15 games is the rate at which they force turnovers, and they’ve ranked among the top half-dozen teams in that category for virtually the entire season.

The schedule hasn’t been filled with scoring-challenged teams, either. The Celtics have recently faced six of the league’s eight most efficient offenses, though one of those games came against a Bulls team missing Derrick Rose. In the 159 minutes in which Boston’s four best defenders — Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Bradley — have shared the court, the Celtics have surrendered just 81.7 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. No four-man group that has logged at least 250 minutes this season has even cracked the 84.0 barrier.

The sample sizes here suggest we have to cool it a bit. Other elite defenses in recent years have gone on similar 10- or 15-game stretches, though a quick scan of NBA.com’s stats database suggest Boston is on one of the best rolls in recent NBA history — and that going on such a roll late in the season is relatively unusual."

Kevin Arnovitz, of ESPN's True Hoop:

"Every NBA big man under the age of 25 should have the video coordinator at his team’s training facility make a feature-length DVD of Garnett’s half-court defense. If you watch him closely, you won’t see a lot of blocked shots or pickpocketing. His defensive game is an exercise in nuance. At 35, Garnett could probably defend a pick-and-roll with a blindfold on and his most notable contributions are simply where he situates himself on the court in relation to the offense. Garnett’s hyperawareness of what the offense is trying to accomplish on a given possessions is remarkable. Watch several dozen defensive possessions with this lineup, and you’ll never witness an error in judgment by Garnett. All the while, he’s calling out instructions to his teammates and guiding Bass to the right spots."

John Hollinger

Add a heavy dose of Bradley to the mix, and the result has been that an already excellent defense has become an absolutely terrifying one. In this nine-game stretch, the Celtics have allowed 79 points or fewer five times, and the only teams to beat them are Chicago and San Antonio.

The lineup data supports the idea that Boston has found itself a defensive lineup for the ages. Check out the carnage on NBA.com’s advanced stats tool: When Bradley and Garnett play together, Boston gives up 88.8 points per 100 possessions, allows 38.8 percent shooting and forces nearly one turnover for every assist. This is scary stuff, and it’s not one of those small-minute flukes, either — they’ve played 658 minutes together.

You think that’s impressive? How’s this: When Rondo and Bradley play together, opponents average 82.2 points per 100 possessions.

That’s nearly 20 points below the league average. It’s in 271 minutes, so it’s not as robust a sample as the data with Garnett, but good heavens. The Celtics barely need to bother with an offense if the D is going to provide this kind of domination.

Hollinger remarking on defense, alone, is a statement.

bob

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Bob,
With all due respect, I wouldn't give this moron Jon Hollinger any credit. Here's a pearl from one of his rants: "...but compared to real NBA basketball teams, they [Celtics] aren't very good at this end..."
I bet that you didn't even suspected that Boston Celtics is not a real NBA team, did you.

Sorry, I couldn't help spilling my disgust for this pseudo journalist.

AK

ed..When Bob mentioned the "almost surreal calmness" in KG's recent play, I had a quick flash of deja vu. Once before in my history as a Celtics fan, I witnessed Celtics faces that bespoke a chilling sense of calm, yet burning determination. The occasion was when I stood by the runway when they entered the court for the final half of the 1969 "balloon game" with the Lakers. The Celtics were staring straight ahead, looking throu everyone. Their faces were as gray as gravestones. The hairs on my neck didn't just stand up; I'm sure a number of them jumped ship. It was truly one of the scariest sights I've ever experienc.in a good way, of course. And what scared me the most was that, during those 60 seconds, I actually felt a pang of sorrow for what was about to befall the Lakers. I was so drained from that episode that I actually had difficulty climbing back to my seat.

This whole sequence may prove to be just a false sense of optimism. On the other hand, it could be an historic event that adds to the Celtics legend. Whichever it is, we are all inextricably immersed in it. Enjoy and memorize it, because this is heady stuff, whatever the final outcome.

Sam

GREAT GAME.

Went into Miami and beat a overhyped, overrated, team full of PUNKS.

Everyone in Black was playing chippy - everyone in Green was meeting them in every challenge...and one upping them.

Steamer was great...and never backed down. Love this guy.
KG was a beast.
Ray and Paul hit lots of big shots

And Rondo....just played with a calm confidence.

I would not want to play the Celtics in the playoffs....period.

Great win. It was a really interesting game. I came away with so many seemingly unconnected thoughts.

One the one hand, the Celtics cannot fall in love with jumpshots just because they were falling last night. On the other hand, the confidence and will to make those shots is a great asset, especially in the playoffs.

The Celtics cannot keep playing heavy minutes like that over the next 10 days. They just can't. Including last night, they have eight games in 11 days. It's great to get this win, but I'm curious how Doc will manage playing time -- will he pull a Popovich and sit guys for games, limit the number of minutes in each game, or both?

One thing the Celtics do really well against the Heat is take away their transition baskets. LeBron and Wade get all amped up when they toss each other lobs on the fast break, and the difference between that and making them take jump shots is striking.

I couldn't believe LeBron's comments after the game about not being bothered by this loss. Really? That just shows, yet again, why he's not an elite winner in this league. You can shrug off a loss and move on, but a truly elite player would be pissed about how they played defensively.

The Heat are supposed to be a good defensive team (8th in points allowed, 5th in points per 100 possessions), and the Celtics are supposed to be a weak offensive team (26th in points per game and per 100 possessions). But those overall statistics don't reflect the different arcs these two teams are on. As everyone here well knows, the Celtics were 15-17 at the all-star break but have performed like a different team since, going 18-7 during that span. The Heat, on the other hand, were 27-7 at the break and are 13-9 since.

What's even more striking is the eye test -- the Celtics are a confident bunch playing really well together, while the Heat are out of sorts, but most compellingly on defense. I can understand the Celtics getting it together -- Pierce worked into shape, rotations are worked out after getting Jermaine O'Neal out of the equation, all the rumors and uncertainty passed with the trading deadline, bench players found their roles and are doing a really good job. But I don't get what's going on with the Heat. They looked really, really good earlier in the season and were so in sync defensively that it was impressive to watch. Now, it's just not there. They've been relatively injury-free, so what the heck is going on? Malaise? Bad chemistry in the locker room? One thing that stands out to me is that they're starting Rony Turiaf at center now. While who plays center doesn't attract attention when the three amigos get all the headlines, I find it telling that Joel Anthony and James Jones have fallen so far out of favor. The strength of the Heat defense when they play it well is on the perimeter, but that works because of timely, aggressive rotations everywhere, including (even especially) the post. Throwing Turiaf in the lineup smells almost of desperation, because even before that, I saw their defense falling apart -- poor communication, lack of commitment, slow or non-existent rotations. I don't know why it's happening, but it's happening, and it does not bode well for their chances in the playoffs. This is not the sort of thing you just "turn on" when the playoffs arrive. They still have time to fix it, but that time is growing short.

When we talked about Avery Bradley earlier in the season, after his breakout performance against Orlando when Rondo was out, I said that I thought Rondo and Bradley together could be a great combo with the combination of pressure on the ball forcing poor passes leading to steals and transition baskets. While the Celtics have indeed become better defensively by playing them together, it hasn't led to the spike in steals that I expected. One reason is that Bradley is a very good on-ball defender, but he hasn't learned the cat-and-mouse game of playing the passing lanes for steals. He's so focused on his man that he's missing some of the bigger picture. If he can add that to his game, they'll be an even more potent duo.

Outside

One other thing -- why does Miami like playing in the black road uniforms at home? Are they trying to revel in being the bad guys? It's just dumb, and I wish the league wouldn't allow wearing road uniforms at home.

bobheckler wrote:If basketball is a game of runs then this game was one for the books. 10-0 one way, 16-3 the other. This went on all game. We went up by 18 but they clawed back to get within 1 and then we'd pull away again and get it up to 11. Tremendous ganas shown by both teams, absolutely tremendous, but nobody showed more ganas than

1. Kevin Garnett. 24 points on 11-14, 9 boards and 2 blocks and he still did it in just 33 minutes. After the Philly game, I opined on the post-game thread "You want to win every game, but if I was Doc I'd focus on Atlanta, since they're just ahead of us with 23 losses". Apparently KG doesn't read my posts (good thing too). He was on another planet last night. My disdain for Chris Bosh is pretty much well-known by now I think and when ESPN announcer Dan Schulman noted that Bosh was 3-10 in the first half, I smirked. It started to dawn on me by the end of the game, though, that while Bosh had a poor shooting first half (as did every Heat player except for LBJ and Wade) his second half was pretty good. He attacked the offensive boards, he took advantage of his height advantage over Bass, his defensive rotations were swifter (witness his pickup of Pierce when Pierce went lefty on him. Good rotation by Bosh to pick up Pierce, who was not his man) and good defense on KG but in the end, it didn't matter. None of it. I think he could have Crazy Glued himself to KG's shooting hand and it wouldn't have mattered, KG was just in the zone. We've all seen the Manic KG, the crazy guy who punches himself in the chest and bays at the moon when he scores with a foul, who stares at refs with his eyes popping out of his head and jaw bouncing off the floor when they call a foul on him he doesn't agree with and that trash talking, the never-ending trash talking. Last night I saw little to none of that. He was throwing in shots that were unbelievable without any emotion. Every shot was taken without a hitch, without reservation and completely fluidly. Every time the Heat would make a run he'd stab them in the heart with a 20-foot dagger again and again and again, with all the intensity of a sleep walker. He got tangled up with Mike Miller and, when Miller bounced up and confronted him, KG just walked away. Normally, KG would stand his ground and drop an arsenal of F-bombs on Miller but last night he had this almost surreal calmness about him. He was phenomenal at both ends of the court, but it was a little scary. Sorta like a raging, homicidal psycho suddenly going quiet...

2. We had all 5 starting players in double figures. Everyone of them shot 50% or better. No weak links last night. Bass only had 12 points on 4-8, but he had 10 boards. Rondo had 18 points, which is a lot for him and 15 assists with only 3 turnovers. We got Rondo the Treat last night. Bradley only had 11 points, but DWade didn't go crazy (other than for short periods) and I'll take that tradeoff.

3. Tons of credit should go to our short bench. Ray with 9, Steamer with 8, Sasha with 6 with only Ray shooting under 50% (3-7) and only barely at that. Ray Allen might be coming off the bench, but he played 35 minutes vs 25 by Bradley. Steamer has really turned into a pearl found in the mud of D-League. 7 boards, 2 blocks and a steal in 20 minutes. He shot 4-5 from the elbow, from the corner and rolling to the hoop. He got blocked from behind by LBJ on a breakaway but LBJ is the only player in the league that can do that. 99% of the time Steamer has a dunk. Isn't this great? We have a 6'11" player, who isn't a toothpick, who is leading breaks! All he needs now is some respect from the refs. Dan Schulman mentioned that Doc told him that Stiemsma doesn't practice, due to his feet injuries, he just plays in games (Doc, with his usual wise-ass sense of humor, joked that Steamer had the best job in the world. No practice, just play). Think of how gritty that is of Steamer, that he can't practice but still comes in and fights like this. I'm loving this kid. Danny has to resign him because he's only going to get better as he rebounds better and gets a few calls going his way. Sasha played his usual gritty defense and hit his 3s. What's going to happen when Pietrus comes back? Sasha has rhythm and chemistry, will Doc jeopardize that by giving Pietrus Sasha's minutes? One difference between Sasha and Pietrus is that, while both love the 3 a bit too much, Sasha has been running the floor offensively and defensively and will sometimes slash to the hoop. Pietrus has been almost exclusively a bombardier.

4. I love Hubie Brown. He has forgotten more about basketball than the sum total most people learn in their lifetime. He boils things down so that anybody can understand them and he sees things. He mentioned how Pierce got 2-3 3ptrs off of transition, how Pierce is the best left-handed finisher (for a right-hander) in the league, about how Miami starting off with jumpshots instead of inside muscle hurt them. Most announcers are partisan idiots who either don't know the game or just aren't very good at explaining it. Hubie's the best. When was the last time I dedicated an entire bullet just to an announcer?

5. We shot almost 61% against one of the top defensive teams in the league. Normally when we do that we have an exceptional assist-to-fgm percentage but last night we were 23-for-43 for only 53%. Just amazing shooting by KG and Pierce. Rondo hitting his mid-range jumpers. As we all know, we go into shooting slumps where the ball just won't go in. We didn't hurt ourselves by missing open jumpers last night. If we could see the basket, it went in the basket.

In one of the tweets in a previous post by gyso, LBJ said that "We left Boston feeling awful at our performance. I don't feel as bad tonight.". Yeah, YOU had a good performance. Maybe it's just me, but if I have a good team but I get blown out by epic proportions one game I don't care. It's one game and it's not indicative of the team or our ability to compete. If we lose at home to a good team and we played pretty well, then I have a problem, because now it looks like we're not as competitive as I'd like to think we are. The Heat are 13-9 post all-star game, while we are 18-7 and he doesn't feel as bad about last night's winnable game as he did after the blowout loss? Oh yeah, now I remember, he sucked in the blowout.

If we beat Atlanta tonight, we will have homecourt advantage in a playoff series no matter what Steve's thread on this says (I'm not saying Steve's wrong, I'm saying that beating Atlanta would improve our record so we'll own our own fate).

Last night was game 1 of a 5 game stretch in just 6 days. Here comes our back-to-back-to-back. Fortunately, it's @ Toronto, @ NJ and @ Charlotte; all poor teams. The good news is that we're playing this stretch while we're hot. I wouldn't feel very good about our prospects if we had to play these three, even against these teams, in the 1st month of this short season. The bad news is that we're almost at the playoffs and we need rest.

We are peaking at just the right time.

bob

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Bob - You wrote "If we beat Atlanta tonight, we will have homecourt advantage in a playoff series no matter what Steve's thread on this says (I'm not saying Steve's wrong, I'm saying that beating Atlanta would improve our record so we'll own our own fate)." But you're wrong.

Even if we finish with a better record than Atlanta, but Orlando and Indiana have a better record than us, we still are the road team in the first round. We need to be better than two of those three teams to have home-court. That would give us the REAL fourth best record in the conference and be the home team vs any other team in a 4-5 matchup.

sinus007 wrote:Bob,
With all due respect, I wouldn't give this moron Jon Hollinger any credit. Here's a pearl from one of his rants: "...but compared to real NBA basketball teams, they [Celtics] aren't very good at this end..."
I bet that you didn't even suspected that Boston Celtics is not a real NBA team, did you.

Sorry, I couldn't help spilling my disgust for this pseudo journalist.

AK

sinus,

I am not a fan of Hollinger. He has admitted that his PER stats do not do a good job of reflecting defensive impact and, to me, that's like one-hand clapping. The reason why I put his quote in is because he typically under-credits defense and for him to make these remarks is pretty startling.

I don't mind that he's a pseudo-journalist, I mind that he's a pseudo-journalist masquerading as a pseudo-statistician.

bob


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Mrkleen,

Your comments raise an interesting point, even if wasn't your exact intention.

It's obviously too soon to determine how Steamer will pan out over time and under the extensive pressure of the playoffs. However, IF he continues on his current tradk (and mayobe even commits fewer fouls and can play more minutes when he has some relief for his feet), whom would you rather have at center for the Celtics—Perk or Steamer? (For purposes of this discussion, I'm discounting answers of "both.")

And, of course, the inevitable "Why" is the follow-up question.

Sam

sam wrote:Mrkleen,

Your comments raise an interesting point, even if wasn't your exact intention.

It's obviously too soon to determine how Steamer will pan out over time and under the extensive pressure of the playoffs. However, IF he continues on his current tradk (and mayobe even commits fewer fouls and can play more minutes when he has some relief for his feet), whom would you rather have at center for the Celtics—Perk or Steamer? (For purposes of this discussion, I'm discounting answers of "both.")

And, of course, the inevitable "Why" is the follow-up question.

Sam

Sam,

Ooooh, good one.

I wouldn't mind if this became its own thread and was followed throughout the playoffs.

bob

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Bob,

I'll make it a poll to give us a baseline figure and then track it through the playoffs.

Sam

KG Uber Alles! This was off the pass from Steamer, which we see later.



Boo Hoo little baby.



Bass on Turiaf



KG, in crunch time, with Bosh right on him. Didn't matter.



Rondo to Pierce for the trailing 3. Gave up the more obvious pass to Bass.



Great pick-and-roll by Steamer, and then the laydown to KG



KG, seeing the defense running at him, takes it in for a layup



Rondo, for 3? Boy, it was flowing off his hands last night.



Now this is more like it. Rondo to Ray, for 3.




bob


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