POST GAME WASHINGTON

Well a little brain power, and I mean very little, goes a long way. Watched the Celtic game on my computer (NBA League Pass) in town library.

And a Win is a Win...we got the elephant off our backs!

Great game by Paul Pierce.....but we cannot have him do all the scoring! Gut defense by KG at the end!
We also got rebounded again 46 - 35...not a good sign!

Celtics are quite rusty. They do not have their defensive game down and as far as our offense goes...too much hero ball with some wild shots being taken and poor shot selection (too much from outside the paint). A little surprised at Rondo...he is not quarterbacking the offense as I thought he would...too out of control at times....and poor passing...........but then again we have many new players and each have to learn each others moves. Give it 20 games.

Well 3 days of some good old home cooking and workouts should help the coordination of the team!

Oh by the way...we are going to have another strong Nor'easter on Wednesday with strong wind, rain & SNOW!

NEXT GAME - HOME - WASHINGTON - 7:30 - CSNE

POST GAME WEEI

BREAKTHROUGH: C'S EKE OUT FIRST WIN
By: Mike Petraglia

Paul Pierce poured in 27 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with under three minutes left as the Celtics overcame blowing a 16-point lead to the Wizards to record their first win of the season, 89-86, Saturday night at the Verizon Center in Washington. Rajon Rondo added 12 points and 12 assists, Kevin Garnett chipped in 15 points and Jeff Green had 11 points off the bench for the Celtics who improve to 1-2.

Garnett forced a key turnover on Kevin Seraphin with 28.2 seconds left as Washington blew a chance to take the lead. Martell Webster missed a desperate shot from the corner with 1.5 seconds remaining as the Celtics escaped with the win. Kevin Garnett missed a jumper with 4.5 seconds left that gave the Wizards the last shot of the game. Jason Terry hit a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left to seal the victory.

After a lethargic effort on Friday night in the home opener, Doc Rivers changed the starting lineup on Saturday night and it paid off immediately. Rivers replaced Brandon Bass with Jared Sullinger in the lineup and the Celtics raced out to leads of 17-2 and 26-10 and built a 26-12 advantage after one quarter.

The Wizards, who are without the injured John Wall, got back into the game with their second unit, as Washington went on a 17-8 run to open the second quarter. Led by Kevin Seraphin and Jordan Crawford, Washington's bench outscored the Celtics, 21-6, to climb back in the game. The Celtics watched as their 16-point lead was cut down to seven at the half, as they took a 49-42 lead to the locker room.

The Celtics went back to their starting lineup to open the third, building their lead back up to 13, 67-54. But then Garnett went out with 5:44 left in the third. The Wizards, led by Seraphin, went on a 11-2 run to close the gap. The Celtics took a 71-67 lead into the fourth quarter.

With the lead down the three, 73-70, with 11 minutes left, the Celtics went on a 7-0 run to open up a 10-point lead. But the Wizards would not go away, as they went on a 9-2 sput, capped off by a Cartier Martin steal of a sloppy cross-court pass from Rondo and a layup with 4:52 left. Rondo's redirect of a rebound with his right hand fell in the basket with four minutes left, pushing the lead back up to five but Jannero Pargo's three with 3:31 left tied the game, 84-84. Seraphin drained a jumper with 2:51 left to give Washington its first lead.

Pierce answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:35 left to put Boston back up for good, 87-86. The Celtics won despite being outrebounded, 46-35, and having their bench outscored by the Washington reserves, 62-29.

Rondo finished with 12 assists, extending his streak of double-digit assists to 27 games, matching John Stockton for the third longest in NBA history. The Celtics are off until Wednesday, when they finish the home-and-home series with Wizards at the Garden.

112288

It wasn't pretty but I will take any win. We needed this for our heads. Maybe both the team and us fans. There were some positives I guess. Pierce looked pretty good and getting his shots even though they didn't fall quite as often as we would like. KG was hitting some nice shots. I like Sully starting. He seems to fit in and I think he will continue to grow. Bass can give the second team a little better offense. We didn't give up a ton of points either.

Negatives- Washington was without their two best players. Other teams just take it to us and score. I would like to see more double teaming of the ball, force the action, get some steals and run. Seemed like Rondo did a lot of walking the ball last nite.

Oh well beggars can't be choosers.

The game was forgettable, but something worthy of remembering did happen last night.

Mr. 112288, because his home was without electricity, braved the devastation of Hurricane Sandy to get to the town library to watch the game on his computer. Afterward, he wrote the postgame recap!

That's a true measure of devotion, above and beyond the call of duty. If there was such a thing, he should be awarded the Celtics Medal of Honor.

rickdavisakaspike wrote:
The game was forgettable, but something worthy of remembering did happen last night.

Mr. 112288, because his home was without electricity, braved the devastation of Hurricane Sandy to get to the town library to watch the game on his computer. Afterward, he wrote the postgame recap!

That's a true measure of devotion, above and beyond the call of duty. If there was such a thing, he should be awarded the Celtics Medal of Honor.

definetly HOF worthy on his part... (so go vote for him)

Hi,
There're, IMO, 2 bright spots in last night's game: Celtics had more points than the opponent at the final buzzer and Sully. I really like his game despite all the mistakes he made. Once again, I think he's a real deal.
OK, win is a win. 79 more, please.

AK

Keeping my priorities straight and clear, let me first say how happy I am that 112288 and his family made it through Sandy relatively intact. What makes this board so special is that we are more than just a bunch of green-blooded Celtic fans and hoop junkies, we are family. I second, third and fourth Spike's statement and heartedly endorse Matty's. Vote early and often for 112288, I did!

Everybody who thought we were going to get shut out this season can now relax and breathe.

It's amazing how big Celtic Planet is. Last night, KG was at the line for free throws. The crowd booed as he prepared to shoot and then an equally loud cheer went up after he made it.

A win fixes a number of ills, and almost any win feels, tastes and smells better than any loss, but we can't feel very good about this win. Washington was playing without their starting point guard John Wall and without their starting center Nene. We should have blow-torched these guys, ESPECIALLY being as hungry as we should have been after dropping the first two games.

We started out like a house on fire, leading by 16 at one point and ending the quarter up by 14. They were 1-14. Then the Wiz started scratching back and made it to the half down only 7. We got the lead up to 11 in the 2nd half, but then they came roaring back and actually took the lead with 2:56 minutes left in the game. For the next 2:55, we had a Pierce 3ptr, to give us a one point lead, and that's it, but that was 3 points more than the Wiz scored. Two free throws by JET with one second left turned this into a Hail Mary effort by the Wiz to tie, which came up short. One fgm in almost 3 minutes is hardly covering ourselves with glory. We were 1-3 with a TO in those last 2:55. 3 fga in 3 minutes is NOT good.

We had virtually NO uptempo this game, no running. We ended up with 11 fastbreak points, Washington had 17. Rondo walked it up almost every possession. It's almost like Doc said "we need to work on our half court sets, so no fast breaks tonight, Rajon" (I'm seeing slowdown conspiracies now). This team is really looking schizofrenic. Who are we? Are we bruisers with Darko and Sully and Wilcox, are we greyhounds with Rondo and Barbosa and Lee or are do we have a soft interior defense and walkers?

1. As I said, Rondo walked up almost everytime. SMDH (which I've recently learned means "shaking my damn head"). Let's be generous and say that Rondo was focusing on execution and not on tempo. Considering we only shot 43% for the game, I don't think we executed all that well either. Maybe he should have focused on tempo instead. He did have 12 assists and only 2 TOs, so that's good. At one point he had 10 assists and no TOs, but very few easy baskets. 2-2 from 3 for Rondo. He's shooting 40% from three so far. For someone who spent the summer in China and interning for GQ he sure found time to work on his shot. Unfortunately his free throw shooting, which looked so promising, is back down to 50%. He runs, he runs, now he walks. Schizofrenic. What kind of team does he want to lead? He had a Sportcenter basket. With the clock running down he leaned in for a shot, which was partially blocked from behind. He one-hand shotputted the ball in at the buzzer.

2. I kept thinking that Pierce looked slow, and then I looked at his boxscore. 10-22 for 27 points and 7 rebounds. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. He was 4-8 from 3, which doesn't say anything about his speed or lack thereof. So far, he's working every other game. Let's see if it keeps up like that. Halloween's over, time to get out of that cute little frog costume, and stop trick-or-treating.

3. A solid night by KG. 15 points on 7-15, 7 boards. No PFs. I don't know if that's good or bad, since it doesn't seem like he was close to a lot of players last night. Speaking of which...

4. Want to know why Washington amnestied Andray Blatche? His name is Kevin Seraphin and he played a helluva game last night. When the Wiz started off arctic cold, Seraphin came off the bench and proceeded to go 5-5 and bring them back to within hailing distance. KG did not stop him. He was 8-9 for 19 points off the bench. This kid is going to be good. He had back-to-the-basket moves and face-up shots.

5. Which brings us to the discussion about the productions of our respective benches. For a team that bragged about its depth, our bench has really, really stunk. 27 points for our bench vs. 62 for the Wiz. When you consider that 2 bench players were starting due to the injuries to Wall and Nene, that really says something about their bench. It also says something about ours. It says our 6-10 can't handle their 8-12. Jordan Crawford had 21, Seraphin had 19 and Jannero Pargo had 9. That's almost 3 bench players in double-figures. VERY impressive. And our bench...?

6. The JET is still grounded. 8 points on 2-8 and completely outplayed by Pargo. Look, I know he's not a point guard. I realize he's not going to be efficient at running Doc's offensive sets yet, but he should be hitting his open shots, right? He was deadly in pre-season and played with a high energy level, now he can't throw the ball in the ocean from the edge of the pier and isn't staying in front of his man. I don't know if this is Schizofrenic so much as disappointing. He's supposed to be replacing Ray. Let's see him actually do it. Stop shooting videos, stop shooting your mouth off and start shooting.

7. The Jeff Green we saw in pre-season has yet to suit up. I'm talking about the one that would get the ball in the wing, put it on the floor and finish strong across the lane. The one we saw last night was a long-range shooter almost exclusively. Yes, he was 5-10 only maybe 2 of his 11 points came near the rim (he had a dunk on a baseline drive). He's supposed to be quick when playing 4 and strong when he's playing 3. This game (and the game before this and the game before that), he was neither. Schizofrenic. Be the player you were in pre-season, Jeff. I realize you might not have the same results, the players are better and they are playing in earnest now, but attack the same. Green's allergy to the paint last night only garnered him 2 rebounds. That won't cut it.

8. We only had 9 TOs last night. That's good. We got outrebounded 46-35. That's not good. We shot 43%. That's what happens when you don't run and get easy baskets.

9. High draft pick Bradley Beal didn't give the home crowd anything to cheer for in his debut.

10. Sully boarded last night. Unfortunately, that appears to be the sum total of his game so far. Blocked underneath again. They're not running pick-and-pop plays for him even though he's a solid mid-range shooter. The only touches he's getting are underneath and we know he struggles against height. Not sure I understand this use of him. He got the start last night and played 30 relatively underwhelming minutes. Unfortunately Brandon Bass didn't have a good game off the bench either. Bass having an off game is sufficiently rare that I can live with it. Sully is showing signs of being a rookie. Understandable, of course, he IS a rookie, but if you're going to start you have to get/be past that.


Doc has a lot of work to do. Maybe he should hire a shrink as a coach.



bob


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We've been visiting friends, and I was nowhere near a computer or television for the Bucks game. I did manage to see all of last night's game but still had no computer. Just a few observations because, frankly, I believe few—if any—long-term trands are discernable right not. It gets old very fast to keep pointing out lapses that I believe are short-term.

In situations like this, I prefer to look for glimmers. Remember that my definition of a "glimmer" is not simply something good that happened. It has to have the appearance of something that could potentially and logically ripen into a long-term trend. And, frankly, there weren't many last night.

I identified seven glimmers, and I wouldn't blame anyone for challenging any of them because I could make an argument that each is somewhat of a stretch:

1. KG's game-ending goal-line stands finally produced some Celtics defense that was a positive turning point in the game. I'm getting a little sick out of almost every Celtic diagnosing what needs to be done rather than getting out and doing it. In this case, KG spoke through his actions on the floor. It meant a win for the Celtics, but much more important in my view is that it sent a message to his team (and himself, because earlier in the game, he seemed confused on defensive rotations) that the Celtics way is to stand tall and dominate at critical junctures.

2. Jeff Green's offense seemed a little more aggressive. At least he has now scored in double figures in consecutive games and has been doing it with increasingly acceptable efficiency:

Against the Heat: 3 points in 23 minutes shooting 0-4
Against the Bucks: 11 points in 27 minutes shooting 5-9;
Against the Wizards: 11 points in 16 minutes shooting 5-10

I'm not implying that his contributions are anywhere near where they need to be; it's just a glimmer.

3. Paul Pierce's coming up big was another instance of backing up his talk. His point total was very nice and very needed; but what impressed me even more was the leadership he exerted as well as willingness to take big shots when they were needed.

4. Jared Sullinger's rebounding: 7 boards (6 defensive) in a combination of 10 minutes as a center and 20 minutes as a PF showed that he can fill a role with the starters. However, count me among those who are skeptical about forcing him into the center position (even in small ball) when he has to work hard to keep from having his shots blocked as a PF. On a related note, Bass got 5 boards (2 offensive) himself but only 5 points as hes clearly struggling in trying to find some rhythm with the bench.

5. Rondo's total game reflected some needed aggressiveness: 5-10 shooting (including two consecutive three-pointers and one circus shot), 12 dimes, and 5 boards with only 2 turnovers. (But, although I come to praise Rondo, not to bury him, I have to say that tempering these positives were two many instances of walking the ball up and making lazy cross-court passes.)

6. 9 turnovers are definitely a step in the right direction, although that number would usually be linked to a big Celtics win if the team had good chemistry.

7. The Celtics' assist to field goal ratio, for the second straight game, was a very satisfactory 67%.

So those are my glimmers for this game. But the fact that I couldn't resist throwing in several qualifiers and concerns reflects just how unsatisfying this win was in terms of team improvement—especially in the area of chemistry. On offense, far too much reliance on jumpers and hero shots—even a circus shot. Far too few instances of getting into their offense quickly (at the 12 second mark on numerous occasions) and thus far two few instances of being able to run more than one option. Too many players trying to create their own shots. Major confusion on defensive rotations.

I think I'll quit before this becomes an anti-glimmer post.

Sam

112288 thanks for the recap, definitely HoF stuff just to post under your circumstances.

bobheckler wrote:Keeping my priorities straight and clear, let me first say how happy I am that 112288 and his family made it through Sandy relatively intact. What makes this board so special is that we are more than just a bunch of green-blooded Celtic fans and hoop junkies, we are family. I second, third and fourth Spike's statement and heartedly endorse Matty's. Vote early and often for 112288, I did!

Everybody who thought we were going to get shut out this season can now relax and breathe.

It's amazing how big Celtic Planet is. Last night, KG was at the line for free throws. The crowd booed as he prepared to shoot and then an equally loud cheer went up after he made it.

A win fixes a number of ills, and almost any win feels, tastes and smells better than any loss, but we can't feel very good about this win. Washington was playing without their starting point guard John Wall and without their starting center Nene. We should have blow-torched these guys, ESPECIALLY being as hungry as we should have been after dropping the first two games.

We started out like a house on fire, leading by 16 at one point and ending the quarter up by 14. They were 1-14. Then the Wiz started scratching back and made it to the half down only 7. We got the lead up to 11 in the 2nd half, but then they came roaring back and actually took the lead with 2:56 minutes left in the game. For the next 2:55, we had a Pierce 3ptr, to give us a one point lead, and that's it, but that was 3 points more than the Wiz scored. Two free throws by JET with one second left turned this into a Hail Mary effort by the Wiz to tie, which came up short. One fgm in almost 3 minutes is hardly covering ourselves with glory. We were 1-3 with a TO in those last 2:55. 3 fga in 3 minutes is NOT good.

We had virtually NO uptempo this game, no running. We ended up with 11 fastbreak points, Washington had 17. Rondo walked it up almost every possession. It's almost like Doc said "we need to work on our half court sets, so no fast breaks tonight, Rajon" (I'm seeing slowdown conspiracies now). This team is really looking schizofrenic. Who are we? Are we bruisers with Darko and Sully and Wilcox, are we greyhounds with Rondo and Barbosa and Lee or are do we have a soft interior defense and walkers?

1. As I said, Rondo walked up almost everytime. SMDH (which I've recently learned means "shaking my damn head"). Let's be generous and say that Rondo was focusing on execution and not on tempo. Considering we only shot 43% for the game, I don't think we executed all that well either. Maybe he should have focused on tempo instead. He did have 12 assists and only 2 TOs, so that's good. At one point he had 10 assists and no TOs, but very few easy baskets. 2-2 from 3 for Rondo. He's shooting 40% from three so far. For someone who spent the summer in China and interning for GQ he sure found time to work on his shot. Unfortunately his free throw shooting, which looked so promising, is back down to 50%. He runs, he runs, now he walks. Schizofrenic. What kind of team does he want to lead? He had a Sportcenter basket. With the clock running down he leaned in for a shot, which was partially blocked from behind. He one-hand shotputted the ball in at the buzzer.

2. I kept thinking that Pierce looked slow, and then I looked at his boxscore. 10-22 for 27 points and 7 rebounds. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. He was 4-8 from 3, which doesn't say anything about his speed or lack thereof. So far, he's working every other game. Let's see if it keeps up like that. Halloween's over, time to get out of that cute little frog costume, and stop trick-or-treating.

3. A solid night by KG. 15 points on 7-15, 7 boards. No PFs. I don't know if that's good or bad, since it doesn't seem like he was close to a lot of players last night. Speaking of which...

4. Want to know why Washington amnestied Andray Blatche? His name is Kevin Seraphin and he played a helluva game last night. When the Wiz started off arctic cold, Seraphin came off the bench and proceeded to go 5-5 and bring them back to within hailing distance. KG did not stop him. He was 8-9 for 19 points off the bench. This kid is going to be good. He had back-to-the-basket moves and face-up shots.

5. Which brings us to the discussion about the productions of our respective benches. For a team that bragged about its depth, our bench has really, really stunk. 27 points for our bench vs. 62 for the Wiz. When you consider that 2 bench players were starting due to the injuries to Wall and Nene, that really says something about their bench. It also says something about ours. It says our 6-10 can't handle their 8-12. Jordan Crawford had 21, Seraphin had 19 and Jannero Pargo had 9. That's almost 3 bench players in double-figures. VERY impressive. And our bench...?

6. The JET is still grounded. 8 points on 2-8 and completely outplayed by Pargo. Look, I know he's not a point guard. I realize he's not going to be efficient at running Doc's offensive sets yet, but he should be hitting his open shots, right? He was deadly in pre-season and played with a high energy level, now he can't throw the ball in the ocean from the edge of the pier and isn't staying in front of his man. I don't know if this is Schizofrenic so much as disappointing. He's supposed to be replacing Ray. Let's see him actually do it. Stop shooting videos, stop shooting your mouth off and start shooting.

7. The Jeff Green we saw in pre-season has yet to suit up. I'm talking about the one that would get the ball in the wing, put it on the floor and finish strong across the lane. The one we saw last night was a long-range shooter almost exclusively. Yes, he was 5-10 only maybe 2 of his 11 points came near the rim (he had a dunk on a baseline drive). He's supposed to be quick when playing 4 and strong when he's playing 3. This game (and the game before this and the game before that), he was neither. Schizofrenic. Be the player you were in pre-season, Jeff. I realize you might not have the same results, the players are better and they are playing in earnest now, but attack the same. Green's allergy to the paint last night only garnered him 2 rebounds. That won't cut it.

8. We only had 9 TOs last night. That's good. We got outrebounded 46-35. That's not good. We shot 43%. That's what happens when you don't run and get easy baskets.

9. High draft pick Bradley Beal didn't give the home crowd anything to cheer for in his debut.

10. Sully boarded last night. Unfortunately, that appears to be the sum total of his game so far. Blocked underneath again. They're not running pick-and-pop plays for him even though he's a solid mid-range shooter. The only touches he's getting are underneath and we know he struggles against height. Not sure I understand this use of him. He got the start last night and played 30 relatively underwhelming minutes. Unfortunately Brandon Bass didn't have a good game off the bench either. Bass having an off game is sufficiently rare that I can live with it. Sully is showing signs of being a rookie. Understandable, of course, he IS a rookie, but if you're going to start you have to get/be past that.


Doc has a lot of work to do. Maybe he should hire a shrink as a coach.



bob


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on Celtic nation, when I used to go to Net games at the Meadowlands was more GREEN all around arena than any other color!!

bob

On the halfcourt game rather than uptempo which you called them out on, I think right now even with a camp alot of players other than Ray Allen, whos off to a great start, don't have their legs fully under them yet. I noticed Heat lost their next game after they played us and the next one after that they barely won with Ray carrying them at the end for the victory.

Last nights game was the first back to back, Doc probably knew if he pushed them too hard to fast break and uptempo, it might be alot to demand/ask for this early in the season. I think in this game he was emphasizing defense, limiting turnovers and didn't mind winning ugly. Roles still need to be further defined, Doc is still figuring out best places to put players in best positions, its a process and a marathon, not a sprint.

cow

.....and bob agree we gotta get Jet and Jeff Green going

glimmer glimmer but not much shimmer
C's were the winner
but no chicken dinner

This was the third game of this very young season. They showed improvement in all aspects of the game. Rondo's circus shot was just that, nothing to complain about just another remarkable play by the best pg in the league.

I really like the shot of PP with his arm around Rondo's neck, (no flagrant) talking to him about what he needs to do. Would love to have heard what he was saying but he is really demonstrating why he is the Captain.

Sully continues to improve and by the all star break we won't be having discussions about his rookieness.

Jet and Lee only impress me rarely. They just aren't playing well although Lee is playing better than JT. Expect both of them to be playing much better and hitting their shots later this month and before Bradley comes back. Based on what we have seen so far, their upside is tremendous.

So after three games what do we know? Not a dadgum thing IMO. We will know more midmonth, even more when Bradley returns but we won't really know what this team is capable of until after the allstar break. This team does not play well early in the season. Why? I don't know but I don't think it is really a priority. The only real concern for a Doc led team is to be healthy when the real season starts. That's when the intensity heats up.

It is indeed frustrating for the fans to see this kind of play. We all know what they are capable of and we want them to play that way for all 82 games +. It just doesn't seem that the team is on the same page as we fans. Why won't they just wake up and listen to Us'ns.

Practice is still so important right now. That goes for the C's too.

Some observations:

The Celtics established KG early and often and that is why they got off to a great start.

PP looked like he needs to sit on the bench and then I look at the box score and he drops 27 including big threes to close out the game.

Rajion Rondo had a solid game by any measurment 12/12/5/ with 2 steals and 2 TO's is pretty damn good. I also saw a slower tempo but I also saw many times where Rondo is waiting for other guys to fill the lanes. The notion that the tempo is only set by RR is suspect. Other guys need to get up and down and many times his teamates were not running. When they did we saw a few real nice fast break baskets. If guys are running and Rajon is walking the ball up the floor criticism would be justified. That does not appear to be the case form what I have observed.

Courtney Lee is a solid defensive player but even with Rajon spoon feeding him durimg pre season and the first 3 games of the regular season he has yet to find a range and consistently knock down wide open jumpers.

Jason Terry is still trying to find his place in the offense and like Lee he has not been a consistent scorer thus far.. That will change...He will make big time shots for us this year.

Sullinger started at PF. He played 30 minutes scoring 4 pts and grabbing 7 rebounds. I suppose doc wanted better rebounding but we were still out rebounded by 11 because rebounding is a team sport. I continue to recognize Sully's offensive limiations whe he tries to post up. He has great postiioning but his lack of hops has resulted in him getting his layup soundly rejected. ...every game...

Jeff Green only played 16 minutes? Wow... he needs to play more minutes. How does Sully get 30 and Bass get 27 and the guy you just gave $9 mill a year to get short minutes even in a game where he shot the ball well? Neither Bass nor Sullinger are good enough to take Green's minutes.

If Sullinger could actually be effective at the 5 then minutes between Bass and Green could be distributed easier. Doc will have to figure this one out as he will in finding minutes for the 4 guards plus Bradley when he returns. It's a good problem to have and it can be resolved if the TEAM runs.

The Wizzards are a bottom feeder so getting a win over them was predictable.

As I mentioned in previous posts, it is going to take a while for the team to develop chemistry. Knowing when and where to rotate on defense, taking advanatage of mismatches on offense and prioritizing an uptempo style of play.

dboss

Dboss,

In reality, Sully has been blocked a total of only twice in three games so far—and not at all last night. I'm more concerned about his propensity for committing fouls.

As for Rondo walking the ball up, I counted numerous instances when he did it, and a good number of them were when the Celtics took the ball out from under the opposing basket and the rest of the Celtics were already in the forecourt. I don't judge the pace simply what's required for a transition basket. I also judge it by how early it allows the Celtics to get into the offense. And, while watching the time clock last night and saw a number on instances in which they only had 12 ticks left on the clock after Rondo walked up the court, surveyed the situation, maybe dribbled a couple of times, etc.

It's absolutely true that his teammates may have been out of position in the halfcourt, and I don't blame Rondo for being frustrated at that situation. But, perhaps, if he had more time to work with, he could move them around on occasion.

Obviously, he can't be expected to do everything, and he certainly ranks highly on the team right now in his performances so far. But I think that, especially when new guys are feeling out the offense in the halfcourt, there are bound to be many failed options; so I'd like to see them have as many options as possible in possession.

Sam

Sam I think that Rondo will get better feel for all these new guys on the team.

Not to impugn Sullinger's contributions...I am probably blowing off a little steam because Green was more productive than Sully given the minutes played. Love Sully's rebounding though 7 is good but not great.

The season is so young that any thoughts that we have must be tempered.

Peharps we will see more production from the bench as the Celts figure things out.

Three games a season does not make. Yoda

It's great to have Celtics basketball.

Dboss

Dboss,

Agreed. It had better be much to early for any real judgments to be made or we are in real trouble. Also, we had better see more production from the bench, or we are in real trouble.

Interesting about the rebounding. Garnett (9.6), Sully (9.6), and Bass (9.5) are in a virtual three-way tie for the team's lead in rebounds per 36 minutes played. I never would have guessed that.

In the past few years, the Celtics have tended to feature three or four of what I'd call "core impact players" and a lot of lower level complementary players. The core impact players set the tone, and the complementary players pretty much fell in line as chemistry developed.

Now, they have a lot of potential core impact players, each of whom is used to doing things a certain way. I believe it takes longer for those types of players to establish chemistry because strongly established habits have to be adjusted accordingly.

But, once they do develop good chemistry, their natural talents should combine for some very, very good basketball.

Sam

Better late than never, I say...


The clutch 3 from Pierce to give us our final lead...





Rondo's Sportcenter shot (overlooking the fact that it was a desperation buzzer beater due to a broken down offensive set)












Rondo with the steal. We sometimes forget how fast he is going north-south.






Bass with the quick hands, JET running an efficient break.








Rondo calling for, and hitting, the corner 3. His confidence in his shooting is way up this year.








KG, with the Tim Duncan bank shot.






Green with, what I think is, his only basket inside. He even hesitated on this one too.





















bob



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