POST GAME JAZZ

Kind of a strange game to make out. Were the Celtics just playing hard enough to win knowing they have a back to back coming up tomorrow ...or are the Jazz that good? We'll take the win.

Nice games by both Barbosa and Green each scoring 16 pts to combine for 32pts off the bench. That's what you want from the bench!!!!!!!!!

Lee was quietly playing some nice ball...6pts...+11......2 rebs in 17 mins.

Celtics out ran the Jazz in fast break points 20 / 8....Both teams scored 44 pts each in the paint.

Tomorrow could be difficult with KG & Pierce logging more then 29 mins each.

One note of concern...the Celtics were out rebounded 48 to 33 with Celtics only picking up 4 offensive rebs verses 18 offensive rebs for the Jazz.

JUST AN FYI......JOSEPH & MELO WERE ASSIGNED TO MAINE RED CLAWS OF D-LEAGUE.

NEXT GAME - THURSDAY - 8:00 PM - AT BROOKLYN - CSNE/TNT


POST GAME RECAP WEEI 850 AM


FAST BREAK: LEANDRO BARBOSA, CELTICS TUNE OUT JAZZ 11.14.12 at 10:02 pm ET
By Ben Rohrbach


Rajon Rondo logged his 32nd consecutive game with 10 or more assists, but it was his replacement, Leandro Barbosa, and the rest of the Celtics bench that stole the show in their fifth win in six games, 98-93 over the Jazz.

Rondo played just 25 minutes — none after rolling his right ankle in the third quarter — but Barbosa and Jeff Green each scored 16 points, leading a reserve unit that outscored Utah’s bench, 47-25.

Paul Pierce (23 points) and Kevin Garnett (11 points, 8 rebounds) were the only other Celtics in double figures.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Brazilian blur: In 5:47 off the bench for Rondo in the first half, Barbosa scored seven points, including a string of five on consecutive trips to start the second quarter that tied the game, 25-25. It would’ve been seven straight had he hit his free throws on the next trip, but the effort alone gave the C’s the boost they needed. And then again, when Rondo turned his right ankle in the third quarter, Barbosa contributed quality minutes running the show.

Truth of the quarter: After shooting 2-of-7 and looking sluggish in the first half, Pierce made 5-of-9 attempts in the third quarter, scoring 15 points in the frame. His string of three consecutive 3-pointers midway through the quarter helped stave off a Jazz run and kept the C’s heads above water.

KG impression: What Barbosa did for Rondo, Chris Wilcox did for Garnett. The C’s backup center contributed 18 minutes off the bench, totaling seven points and five rebounds while holding down the fort in Garnett’s absence (and we all know how the Celtics have been struggling in that department). More importantly, his effort kept Garnett fresh for the fourth quarter, when KG wreaked his usual havoc.

Green with envy: This Jeff Green dunk on Al Jefferson. No words necessary.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Postmen ring more than twice: The Jazz can run any number of frontcourt combinations at their opponents, so protecting the paint from the opening tip becomes even more vital. Consider it not done. On the back of Paul Millsap‘s eight first-quarter points, Utah scored its first 14 points — and 16 of its first 19 — in the key. The Jazz also outworked the C’s on the glass to the tune of 48-33 for the game (18-4 on the offensive glass).

Not doing them any Favors: Despite Garnett’s attempts to get inside his head, Derrick Favors didn’t relent, getting to the line a whopping 12 times in 10 first-half minutes and banging the boards on both ends. By halftime, the 21-year-old Favors seemed headed for a double-double before finishing with 14 points and nine boards.

Imperfect 10: Searching for any signs of life as the Celtics fell behind 25-20 by the end of the first quarter, coach Doc Rivers trotted 10 different players out on the floor. Here’s how stagnant the offense was in the first 12 minutes: Rondo had zero assists thanks to 8-of-20 shooting from his teammates.
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ESPNBoston.com

Rapid Reaction: Celtics 98, Jazz 93

By Chris Forsberg

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Utah Jazz 98-93 on Wednesday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Paul Pierce scored a team-high 23 points (despite 7-of-17 shooting), while Jeff Green and Leandro Barbosa provided a bench spark with 16 points apiece. Rajon Rondo added six points and 10 assists over a mere 25:18, sitting out the final 16:55 after rolling his right ankle on a drive to the basket in the third quarter. Paul Millsap scored a team-high 20 points on 9-of-21 shooting with 12 rebounds for the Jazz, while old friend Al Jefferson added 13 points and 14 rebounds.

TURNING POINT
While it seemed Boston was in control for most of the night, Jefferson's 19-foot jumper with 1:56 remaining tied the game at 93 (and the Jazz actually had multiple possessions with a chance to take the lead). A free throw by Garnett put Boston on top 94-93 with 1:08 to go and Piece added two more freebies with 19.5 seconds to play. The Jazz missed their last five shots over the final two minutes as Boston escaped.

BARBOSA PROVIDES EARLY SPARK ...
Rondo -- he of the now 32-game double-digit assist streak -- had zero helpers in the first 12 minutes and Boston trailed by five after the first frame. Enter Barbosa, who produced a strong drive to the rim for a layup and a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give Boston a spark. Barbosa had seven points over a stint of less than six minutes. But he wasn't done.

... THEN A LATE ONE TOO
When Rondo rolled his right ankle with 4:55 to play in the third quarter, Barbosa provided another offensive jolt, this time a couple of running bank shots and a driving layup for six points before the end of the frame. Barbosa finished with 16 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists over 23 minutes.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME 1
Rondo registered his first assist midway through the second quarter when he delivered a high alley-oop feed to Garnett, who thundered it down for his first bucket of the game. Just a few minutes later, Chris Wilcox reaped the benefits of running with Rondo, throwing down his own one-hand alley-oop off a lob from Rondo.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME 2
Garnett showed Rondo a thing or two about a pretty pass, delivering a behind-the-back baseline feed to Barbosa for a layup and an 80-74 lead early in the fourth quarter.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME 3
Just when we were ready to give Garnett the play of the night award, here comes Green with the gold-medal effort midway through the fourth quarter. Garnett was swarmed in the paint when he kicked to Green in the corner. Green attacked the basket and threw down a vicious one-handed jam that put Jefferson on a poster. Green got a technical for the ensuing staredown, but Utah missed the free throw. (Watch it HERE).

RONDO'S STREAK ROLLS ON
Considering he didn't have an assist until midway through the first quarter, but departed midway through the third quarter with 10, Rondo did some work in the assist column during that 13-minute stretch. His double-digit assist streak is now at 32 games -- within five of former Jazz point guard John Stockton -- as he pursues Magic Johnson's NBA record of 46 consecutive games.

WHAT IT MEANS
Nothing comes easy for the Celtics, but they've now got a three-game winning streak. Barbosa came up big with Rondo sidelined and the defense came up with big stops down the stretch. What's more, Celtics coach Doc Rivers managed minutes on the first night of a back-to-back with Brandon Bass playing a team-high 32:11, while Garnett (29:40) and Pierce (29:13) had comfortable nights. The Celtics trek to Brooklyn for a national-TV battle on Thursday night, then have a weekend back-to-back by hosting the Raptors in a Saturday matinee before visiting the Pistons on Sunday night.


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Green with envy: This Jeff Green dunk on Al Jefferson. No words necessary.

http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2012/11/14/jeff-green-posterizes-taunts-al-jefferson/

tommy point im sure on that dunk???

hey its starting to come around some!!

Hi,
Yes, JG's dunk was a highlight of the game.
I think the Celtics bench was even a better highlight. With and without KG they were able to stay on their own at both ends of the floor.
Some more progress on defense.
Good move by Doc to keep LB and CL in the game. LB was white hot and kept everybody on the floor on their toes.
I hope that RR's ankle is OK.

AK

Great win. They really should have / could have put the Jazz away -but let them hang around and it got interesting down the stretch.

What a great pick up Barbosa was by DA...Bass is playing well....Green is showing flashes...Wilcox continues to hold down the middle when KG is out VERY VERY well, and Pierce, while not lights out all night, continues to be his strong, steady self.

On to Brooklyn.

Saw the 2nd half from a nice bar in city, we are really starting to gel, Jeff Green out of his shell, Barbosa huge, Pierce and KG playing less than 30 minutes. Wilcox doing his thing, now depth is having a major effect, soon will be a full blown coming out party.

Gave up 18 offensive boards......

and we still won.

If we could just hold our own on the boards we'd have won going away.
Bench actually scored almost 1/2 of our points so that is a plus as we really needed it. Minutes were again distributed well but Rondo's were obviously shortened due to the ankle, and I would not be surprised he rides the pine this evening also. Had zero assists deep into the first quarter then over the cousre of the next 14 or so minutes got 10.

Green appears to be finding "it". Sully appears to be "looking"
Darko has cobwebs and Collins is on a milk carton.

In Brooklyn this eve and hopefully another W.

beat

Doc seems to have settled on the rotation I would prefer (pending what happens down the road):

Starters: KG, Bass, Pierce, Terry, Rondo
Bench: Wilcox, Sully, Green, Lee, Barbosa

For the moment, at least, this comes about as close as one could ask for to enabling each of these 10 players to assume the role in which he can best contribute to the team.

They're many, many repetitions away from being smooth, and I have to admit I've seen only one half of Celtics basketball for nearly a week. But there's such a great combination of ability and experience that it almost seems one or another of them is bound to break out at any given moment‚a frightening experience for opposing defenses.

Speaking of defense, based solely on what I've read on the board, it seems that the defense is gradually tightening up, and perhaps Wilcox can be credited with some of that.

One interesting fact is that the team has eight players who are comfortably averaging double digit scoring per 36 minutes. Yes, I realize they're not all going to play 36 minutes a game (in fact, maybe not any of them will do so if the bench keeps producing). But, in terms of having scoring impact when in the game, the ranking is very interesting:

Pierce 20.5
KG 18;2
Barbosa 16.9
Terry 15.6
Wilcox 15.5
Green 14.6
Rondo 13.2
Bass 12.4

Lee 7.7
Sullinger 7.2

This is where the small sample factor comes into play, and we're still in the part of the season where one game can affect these stats to an inordinate degree. But, at the present time, Barbosa and Wilcox rank well above my expectations.

Sam

Sam,
Speaking about rotations.
I wonder if Doc is going to give (I think he should) some PT to Darko. Deeper into the season KG'll need much more help than CW can provide.

As for LB, if he can sustain the same average level he's shown so far, he's going to be considered a steal of the decade. BTW, I consider him one of the indicators of Celtics defense: he's getting the hang of it and the whole team seems to be getting into "D-groove".

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Yes, JG's dunk was a highlight of the game.
I think the Celtics bench was even a better highlight. With and without KG they were able to stay on their own at both ends of the floor.
Some more progress on defense.
Good move by Doc to keep LB and CL in the game. LB was white hot and kept everybody on the floor on their toes.
I hope that RR's ankle is OK.

AK

Looks like no Rondo tonight:

http://tracking.si.com/2012/11/15/rajon-rondo-injury-ankle-sprained-celtics-nets/

As I said didn't expect Rondo to play but he hopped off the bench ( literally) when Green dunked. Watch the video again and look at the bench.

C's just have to do a bettere job on the boards !

I think we see Darko this evening too.

beat

Sinus,

So far (for the most part), the Celtics seem to be having more difficulty against speed than against height. When they face guys like Bynum, Howard, Bogut, etc., that could change. But I think that—especially considering Doc's tendency to go small—inserting Darko just for the sake of inserting Darko could interrupt the momentum they seem to be gaining.

The rotation already numbers 10 players. Why create more discontinuity at this stage? Once these 10 develop even better chemistry, and once the Celts are playing bigger teams, then it could be time to give Darko a decent shot. I'm liking what Wilcox gives more than what Darko could give this rotation.

One argument for Darko could be improved rebounding. But he's not an offensive rebounder (Wilcox is better at that), and the team as a whole is rebounding better defensively than even in the championship year.

Now that I've said all that, Doc will probably play Darko 39 minutes tonight.

Sam

Sinus,

So far (for the most part), the Celtics seem to be having more difficulty against speed than against height. When they face guys like Bynum, Howard, Bogut, etc., that could change. But I think that—especially considering Doc's tendency to like to go small—inserting Darko just for the sake of inserting Darko could interrupt the momentum they seem to be gaining.

The rotation already numbers 10 players. Why create more discontinuity at this stage? Once these 10 develop even better chemistry, and once the Celts are playing bigger teams, then it could be time to give Darko a decent shot. I'm liking what Wilcox gives more than what Darko could give this rotation.

One argument for Darko could be improved rebounding. But he's not an offensive rebounder (Wilcox is better at that), and the team as a whole is rebounding better defensively than even in the championship year.

Now that I've said all that, Doc will probably play Darko 39 minutes tonight.

Sam