POST GAME SPURS

TURKEY DAY STARTED ONE DAY EARLY!

Makes one lose their appetite. Scal was terrific on the broad cast tonight.....pointing out all the errors that many of the Celtics were making. Problem these are fundamental first year errors being made by season vets. Example - Green not keeping his arms up so as to make passing more difficult for the Spurs.........Lee not helping out in the paint and picking up simple defense. Simply put...Scals comments were an eye opener!

Some one has to step up and introduce one of the Spurs to the "Red Auerbach" parquet floor!!! They could have scored playing in wheel chairs!!!!!!!!

Names mentioned tonight to replace Darko - Kenyon Martin & Marcin Gortat! I would take both!

Spurs our scored 58 pts in the paint - compared to 34 pts for the Celtics

Total Rebounds - Spurs 41 rebs - Celtics - 25 rebs
Offensive Rebounds - Spurs - 6 rebs - Celtics - 1 reb

NEXT GAME - FRIDAY - 7:30PM - HOME - OKC - CSNE/NBA CHANNEL (NO LEAGUE PASS0

POST GAME RECAP - WEEI 850AM

FAST BREAK: TIM DUNCAN, SPURS BOARD CELTICS TO DEATH
By Ben Rohrbach


The Celtics came within 90 seconds of becoming only the second team in the last 25 years to fail to record an offensive rebound — against the only other team do so. Only the Spurs won when they did it on Jan. 23, 2002. This time around, the C’s lost, 112-100.

Rajon Rondo (22 points, 15 assists) did his best to breathe life into a Celtics team seemingly already suffering a Thanksgiving Day tryptophan hangover, contributing to 19 of the C’s final 21 points. Brandon Bass broke his string of 19 straight when he mercifully tipped in an offensive rebound with 1:28 remaining.

Paul Pierce (19 points), Kevin Garnett (14 points) and Jeff Green combined for just three rebounds. Meanwhile, Tim Duncan totaled 20 points and 15 boards. Here’s what else went wrong:

WHAT WENT WRONG

Glass in session: The Celtics had already been out-rebounded eight times this season, and then proceeded to grab only one rebound in the first six minutes. One rebound. Meanwhile, the Spurs corralled eight. When the first quarter came to a close, San Antonio led 30-27, and Duncan had as many boards as the entire C’s roster (7). The Spurs finished the night with a 41-25 rebounding edge.

Open floor: It’s not like San Antonio’s defense was all that great in the first half, but the C’s D was atrocious. The Spurs shot 56.4 percent from the field in the opening 24 minutes, and Manu Ginobili (1-5 FG) was the only one under 50 percent. Long-range shooting has been a particular thorn in the C’s side (opponents shooting 37.1 percent from 3), and San Antonio finished a combined 6-of-9 before halftime.

Painting the picture: Through three quarters, the Spurs scored more than half their 82 points in the paint and outscored the Celtics in the key, 44-16. Hence San Antonio’s eight-point lead. With 12 minutes remaining, three of their bigs (Duncan, DeJuan Blair, Tiago Splitter) already reached double figures.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

JET arrives early: Terry entered the game averaging 15.0 points in 41 career games against the Spurs, and he picked up right he left off in Dallas, making 4-of-5 shots (10 points) in his first 7:30. The rest of the C’s started 3-of-9 from the floor, so Terry helped them tread water early. He scored only two points the rest of the way.

In the middle: Pierce came into Wednesday night’s contest shooting just 29 percent between 3-23 feet — this from a guy whose signature move is his step-back elbow jumper. Against the Spurs, he found that mid-range stroke, making three of his first four field goals on spinning fadeaway jump shots.

We’re going streaking: Well, at least Rondo extended his streak of double-digit assists to 35 games, moving with two games of John Stockton (37) and 11 of Magic Johnson (46). If he keeps it alive against the Spurs on Friday, The Celtics point guard could tie Stockton for the second-longest streak in NBA history on Sunday.
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Rapid reaction: Spurs 112, Celtics 100

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 112-100 on Wednesday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Tiago Splitter ate the Celtics up around the basket while scoring 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting off the Spurs bench. Tony Parker added a team-high 26 points, while Tim Duncan chipped in 20 points and 15 rebounds to pace San Antonio. Rajon Rondo did his best to will Boston back into the game with a 22-point, 15-assist effort, but the Spurs kept Boston at arm's length much of the night. Paul Piece scored 19 points (but didn't grab a rebound), while Brandon Bass added 16 points and 6 rebounds as Boston got little in production from its bench (only 17 points from the reserves).

TURNING POINT
The Spurs put together a little burst late in the third quarter to carry an eight-point lead into the final frame. Splitter produced a pair of layups and Manu Ginobili added a patented "how did he sneak that in?" layup of his own as the Spurs opened an 82-74 lead. Gary Neal buried a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter and that lead ballooned to double digits. A Rondo-fueled burst with under four minutes to play pulled Boston within six, but the Spurs regrouped and let Boston get no closer.

THE STREAK REACHES 35
Rondo opened the second half with five assists over the first 3:09 to prolong his double-digit assist streak. Rondo's run now sits at 35 straight games, which is third best all-time behind only John Stockton (37) and Magic Johnson (46).

AN OFFENSIVE MOMENT AVOIDED
The Celtics nearly became only the second team over the past 25 years to be shut out on the offensive glass. With 90 seconds remaining, Brandon Bass registered the team's first -- and only -- offensive rebound with a tip-in. The Spurs won the battle on the glass 41-25 overall and turned six offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. The only team to endure the shutout over the past quarter century: the Spurs, back on Jan. 23, 2002, against the Utah Jazz. Alas, the Spurs still won that game, 98-82.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (6-6) shot 53.2 percent from the floor, but could do nothing to stop the Spurs, who shot a whopping 58.4 percent (45-of-77) and produced a whopping 58 points in the paint (Boston only registered 34). A now-.500 Boston squad can lick its wounds on Turkey Day, then another Western Conference power visits on Friday when the Oklahoma City Thunder invade the Garden.
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Ever since Cliff Ray departed there has been a pronounced decline in rebounding and defensive fundamental play from the Celtics. Thibs leaving for Chicago was also a big factor. The current squad has chemistry issues that appear irreconcilable. For all of Ainge's off season moves, the C's don't have the needed length to control the boards, nor the heart to mix it up with anyone but Duncan Hines. It's a shame 'Sheed didn't do for the C's what he's doing for the Knicks now. The Knicks are putting so much distance between them and Boston, I don't think even Bolt could catch them. Regulation of Garnett's & Pierce's minutes sounds fine. However, when they are taken out at the prescribed intervals momentum is lost from point production and the middle beecomes as open as an all-night parking garage.

MD!

Ugly,ugly,ugly

We have chemistry issues and smallball issues, its not working, our perimeter defense is equally bad as is our rebounding. We can actually compete against other small ball teams, but if other coaches see this game on film, any team with legit size, why wouldn't they want to attack our lack of size in similar fashion?

Sad to see KG and Pierce not have bad games, but far removed from being able to carry us on their back, no quit in KG, but even in his limited minutes, hes taking a beating.....as raw as he is, we might need Melos length added to the mix as until we can stop it, whats gonna stop other teams from using the same blueprint? Pound them inside, attack the boards. Simple, when the wings and guards try to help out, hit the wide open looks.

What happened to the bench? Lee and Green are on a terrible stretch, Lee doesn't know whats hes doing on offense, throwing the ball to the back of KG's head when he had a wide open 10 footer? his defense has made no impact. Jeff Green has had 2 good games out of 10, when is this guy gonna show a pulse? He can do so many things, yet he does so little, has no intangibles....right now I'm shocked that Hollinger was more right on and we keep waiting and waiting, maybe he'll have a good stretch soon, he can't have this little impact the whole season right?

I get what Doc wanted to do which is have a 10 man bench to preserve energy etc and throw many different looks...........problem may be that there are too many moving parts (bodies) in the puzzle and it's tough to get that many parts in sync.

Scal said it best last night.......not like 2008 team where a small unit 7-8 guys knew the defensive scheme well. out side of the big three...no one has grasped the defensive plan...........no less basic defensive moves like putting your arms up to make passes difficult.

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Maybe we need to throw a zone at people. Its better than having a layup line each game. If they can knock down outside shots at better than 58% so be it. Until our basic defense kicks in a zone could cure some ills. Change it around often during the game to confuse people (hopefully their team and not ours). If these guys can't play a zone they can't play defense anyway. I had junior players that could slow down vastly superior teams. Yes we lost but each game the other coaches allways praised our heart and our defense on them. I know this isn't junior high.

The Spurs were marching down the paint like marching bands marching down Broadway in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

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