9 Wins 70 Wins To GO!

Game played a lot closer then the 14 point victory. Celtics look a little edgy, gone are the smiles they usually wear after a win. I think they all smell a trade coming.

For the first 2.5 quarters, GS the looks and shots they want. Basically they would catch and drive before Celtics set on Defense. Celtics half court Defense bad in that they are playing their men to the side vs. straight-up!

Giddons playing time first quarter....could it be Doc was trying to stir up the mix or show case him for a trade? Time will tell.

Continued good effort by C's on offense attacking the paint. First- 10 shots/second-9 shots/third-11 shots and fourth-10 shots. Doc must of really preached this as the C's only took 2 shots from 3 in the first and on;y one in the second.

As Rondo goes...so goes the Celtic Offense. Good to see him start to break down GS defense in third and fourth periods cutting to the hoop for lay-ups or pitching out to the open man. Got the other Celtics into the flow of the offense.

Let's hope the Celtics can carry forward their effort in the fourth period into Fridays game against Orlando.

Side note ..Cleveland lost to Washington.....Look out Atlanta...they win again.

Good article in Boston Globe sums everything up!

WALTHAM - Kendrick Perkins freely admits that the Celtics have not cured the ills caused by three losses in five games with just two practices. What’s more, the burly center and team conscience believes the Celtics are lacking the focus and concentration necessary for a dominant season.

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The Celtics enter tonight’s game against Golden State needing a win for their psyche more than anything else. Even a victory over a team in upheaval will be devoured and used for confidence. Back-to-back losses to Atlanta and Indiana have dampened the team’s momentum and outlook.

There was once talk, although faint, of reaching 72 wins. Now the goal is to dominate opponents defensively, something the Celtics used to do regularly. The Celtics spent the past two days trying to regain their sharpness, but Perkins, along with coach Doc Rivers, walked away unimpressed.

“I think our energy’s been high, [but] these past few practices haven’t been good, I don’t think,’’ Perkins said after yesterday’s workout. “They haven’t been our best practices. We’ve been turning over the ball, just being sloppy the last two practices.

“I thought as far as Doc and the coaching staff, they had the right game plan for practice. As a team, we haven’t had the perfect execution for practice. We just gotta get back on the right track.’’

Rivers also noticed the spotty practices, despite the presence of Paul Pierce yesterday.

“Average,’’ he said, when asked to assess the practices. “I thought today’s practice was up and down. To me, it’s the way we played so far this year. We’ve been a spurt team. We’re not ready yet to be a 48-minute basketball team. That’s just not what we’ve done yet. We’re working on it.’’

Perkins said following Saturday’s loss that the Celtics were taking lesser teams lightly, and that was evident against the upstart Pacers, who were missing three contributing players to injury.

The Celtics are just ninth in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed, subpar for a team consistently in the top five. Three of the past five opponents have scored at least 97 points.

“We’ll get it together,’’ Perkins said. “I just think each guy got to look at himself in the mirror and just play their roles, do their jobs, starting with me. I think I have to do a better job of setting picks, getting guys open, being better on the offensive end than what I am.’’

The Celtics appear to be consumed with the 3-point shot, and that hasn’t worked. They are 19 for 74 from behind the arc (26 percent) in the past five games. They pointedly tried to pound the ball in the paint Saturday against Indiana, and it resulted in a 9-point halftime lead.

Once the Pacers rallied and took the lead, the Celtics turned into a perimeter-shooting team again and missed 9 of 12 3-pointers. While the Celtics attempted 19.1 3-pointers per game during their championship season two years ago (18.2 this season), their defense was considerably more consistent then.

“I don’t think we’re attacking,’’ Perkins said. “I think we need to be more aggressive. I don’t want us to turn into a 3-point-shooting team. Obviously we got shooters, but we have to be a more physical team, rebounding, driving, I just think we’ve go to be more physical.’’

Being physical has gotten Perkins into trouble in his career. And he already has four technical fouls. On Friday, he was whistled for a technical for “swiping’’ at an Atlanta player following a non-foul call, and Saturday official Joey Crawford added another following a block call against Danny Granger.

Perkins agreed with neither, although the NBA is emphasizing “swiping’’ calls after the Rafer Alston incident with Eddie House during last June’s Eastern Conference semi-finals.

“I am probably [going to] call in and try to get it overturned,’’ Perkins said. “This year I was trying to go actually without getting techs but they are just finding me.

“Shoot, I’m trying to be cool and you are still getting them. But I don’t think I deserved the last two that I got. So I am going to have the league look them over.’’

Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com.

Perk needs to get the butter off his hands and catch a few more passes down low. KG spoon fed him many times and while he converted quite a few, he also bumbled a few as well.

The key to this team is Rondo. Why he continues to decide to show up and play hard every other night is beyond me. His head was not in the game against Atlanta and the Hawks guards totally outplayed him. Same in Indiana. Last night, he didn’t wake up until the 3rd quarter…and when he did, he started making serious plays. The entire team, on both ends of the court plays better when Rondo is playing fast and hard. I would have thought he had 55 million reasons to do that, but for now he is a still a part time star.

KG is still not right, but is getting better on both ends. He still looks flat on some of his moves and his defensive intensity is slowly starting to creep back. He will be fine.

IMO, Pierce is hurt and should be shut down for a week or two. He was the leading scorer, but was playing no defense for them most part and has very little lift on his shot and his drives.

Right now, Ray Allen is a terrible defensive player. He seems like he is saving all his energy for the offensive end, and that has to stop. If he cant do it on both ends, Doc needs to give Daniels more minutes.

Sheldon Williams continues to impress…and it will be nice to have him pair up with Davis when he returns.

Rasheed is slow and stubborn and pretty much settles for the 3 pointer at any and every opportunity, but he is a hustler, he is very long and he turned the game around in the 3rd last night. I think he brings more intangibles than you will find in the box score.

I think the Celtics still look like they are finding themselves. They look like they know how good they are, and feel like they can give it 75% against at team like GS and still win. This mentality has to stop. They have to try and blow everyone out, and when they get back that killer instinct that they started the year with – they will be fine.

I have no worries, this is still a very very good time with deep playoff potential.

mrkleen

Diito most everything. We had a couple good 4-5 minute spurts in the second half that essentially put the game away. Other times the hard nose effort was not there, and the spurts were really keyed aroung Rondo.

To add with Rondo playing PG this let House free to run around a bit more w/o the ball and sure enough House had a better night.

Perhaps we are in the early stages of being the little snowball near the top of a hill. And as we roll down hill we get bigger and nothing wants to get in front of us. For now thought we are far from striking fear in anyone.

beat

I think this shows that a true back up PG is still a real problem with this team.

Daniels either cant or wont do it on a regular basis - and House is just awful with the ball in his hands.

Paging Mr Lue!!! Take off the suit, and suit up in green...the boys need you.