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CELTICS LOSING STREAK REACHES SIX GAMES WITH 111-105 LOSS TO CLIPPERS

WEEI

By Jackson Alexander  
 
Considering how the Celtics last two losses ended (124 points allowed per game, and an average margin of defeat of 27 points) their most recent defeat to the Clippers on Wednesday night could be seen with a positive twist.

Boston lost 111-105 in Los Angeles (24-14), but unlike in the first two games of the Celtics‘ road trip, they competed admirably from beginning to end, and even led late in the third quarter. Alas, the defeat marked the C’s (13-23) sixth straight loss and ninth in 10 games. It could get worse from here as the Warriors (24-14) and Trailblazers (27-9) still remain on Boston’s road trip.

Blake Griffin topped the Clippers with 27 points, while Jamal Crawford went for 26 and Jared Dudley added 18. Darren Collison (15 points) and DeAndre Jordan (11 points) pitched in as well.

Jordan Crawford continued his strong play at the point guard position this season with a team-high 24 points and eight assists. Fellow guard Avery Bradley also contributed 24 points, while Jeff Green and Brandon Bass and added 15 and 14, respectively.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE CELTICS

First quarter fast break: One might think that without dynamic point guard Chris Paul, the Clippers transition game would be slowed. Think again. Los Angeles’€™ high-flying attack remained, and it was no more prominent than in the first quarter. Of the Clippers’€™ 32 total points in the quarter, 18 came via the fast break (for perspective, Boston allowed 117 points in a loss to the Thunder Sunday, 17 of those were fast break points). The up-tempo style was one-sided as the Celtics only logged two fast break points in the quarter.

Sully benched: After his ejection Tuesday night for a pair of flagrant 1 fouls — the league eventually rescinded the first —  in Boston’€™s loss to the Nuggets, Jared Sullinger started Wednesday on the bench. The move did not remove Sullinger from his current slump (he entered Wednesday’s game averaged 8.1 points per game, and 29.9 percent shooting in the last seven games). Sullinger played sparingly, and he made little impact on the game with just two points. In the fourth quarter, he was whistled fifth flagrant foul this season.

Frontcout D: Boston’€™s front court had a whale of a time slowing the front court of the Clippers. Dudley, Griffin and Jordan combined to notch 57 points with each contributing in other facets as well. Aside from his four 3-pointers, Dudley grabbed four steals and collected three assists. Jordan pulled down 13 rebounds and Griffin did a little bit of everything with eight assists and six rebounds.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE CELTICS

Guard play: The guard rotation of Crawford, Bradley and Bayless excelled versus a battered Clippers guard corp, missing Paul and shooting guard J.J. Redick. Bradley and Crawford led Boston in scoring with nearly half the team’s points. Crawford added five assists, and Bradley’s points came on an efficient 10-for-18 shooting night. Bayless, playing in his second game with the Celtics, provided a spark off the bench with 11 points in 19 minutes.

Effort: Aside from an obvious disadvantage in the talent department, the Celtics were seriously lacking effort in their recent blowout losses to the Thunder and Nuggets. That seemingly absent effort was much improved against Los Angeles. When Boston fell into a 26-10 deficit in the first quarter, it appeared that a third straight blowout loss was imminent. But the Celtics fought back and cut the deficit to four by halftime. In the third quarter, they even grabbed their first lead since the opening moments of the Oklahoma City game.

Humphries returns: Boston’s most consistent bench player this season, Kris Humphries, sat out of the team’s loss Tuesday with an ankle injury. They desperately needed his post presence, as the Nuggets flattened the Celtics 129-98. But Humphries returned on Wednesday, and received a surprise start in place of Jared Sullinger. Humphries provided a spark in a number of categories with six points, eight rebounds and four assists.
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Rapid Reaction: Clippers 111, C's 105

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid reaction after the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Boston Celtics 111-105 on Wednesday night at the Staples Center:

THE NITTY GRITTY
The Celtics endured another loss -- their sixth straight and ninth in 10 games -- but coach Brad Stevens can sleep contently after this one. Boston wasn't always crisp and it had some maddening moments, but the Celtics showed effort and were still hounding the Clippers in the final minute trying to make a final charge. Blake Griffin scored a game-high 29 points (attempting a whopping 17 free throw attempts) to go along with eight assists and six rebounds, while DeAndre Jordan added 11 points and 13 rebounds (and was a team-best plus-16 in plus/minus) to pace the Clippers. Avery Bradley and Jordan Crawford each had a team-high 24 points for Boston, while Jeff Green kicked in a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds).

TURNING POINT
The Celtics trailed by as much as 16 late in the first quarter and could have packed it in, but actually rallied back and briefly surged ahead early in the third quarter when an Avery Bradley jumper had Boston out front 70-69. Boston would endure a three-minute scoring lull in which the Clippers embarked on a little 8-0 run to start pulling away again. A few minutes into the fourth quarter and Los Angeles' lead was back at 16 before Boston battled to make it interesting yet again.

ANOTHER FLAGRANT?!
Jared Sullinger made contact with Griffin's head trying to defend a baseline drive in the fourth quarter and was issued another flagrant-1 foul -- this after earning two in Tuesday's loss in Denver (one of which was later downgraded upon video review). The league will have to take a look at this one as well, but Sullinger put himself in a tough spot making contact with Griffin's head. For the moment at least, Sullinger is back at five flagrant points, putting him on the cusp of a one-game suspension for his next infraction. Sullinger played only 11:46 during Wednesday's game, finishing with four points (on 1-of-6 shooting) and three rebounds.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Jordan Crawford picked up his team-high third technical foul of the season for barking at a referee late in first half for not getting a whistle on a missed fadeaway jumper in the lane.

IT'S (NOT) HUMP DAY
Kris Humphries, who missed Tuesday's game in Denver with a left ankle injury, drew his first start of the 2013-14 season and contributed six points, eight rebounds, and four assists over 31:35. Unfortunately, he ended up on the wrong end of one of Griffin's loud poster dunks at one point.

LOOSE BALLS
Keith Bogans and Vitor Faverani were both healthy DNPs for Boston, which ran with a tightened rotation. ... Newcomer Jerryd Bayless chipped in 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting with five assists, three rebounds, and two steals. He nearly had a key late-game steal, but was whistled for a foul and he couldn't convert a late-game drive that could have made it a one-possession game in the final seconds. ... The Clippers were 11-of-30 on 3-pointers with Jared Dudley making his first four in a big first-half outburst. ... Boston won the battle on the glass overall, 45-37, and held a 52-30 advantage on points in the paint. ... The Clippers had a 24-5 advantage in fastbreak points. ... Boston was hurt by 19 turnovers.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (13-23) are now 0-3 on this five-game road trip. They'll take Thursday off coming off a back-to-back, then dive into another set of consecutive games with stops in Golden State and Portland to wrap up the west-coast swing.

112288

First, KUDO's go out to Stevens and the entire Celtic coaching staff for getting the team to work until the final seconds of the game.....NO QUIT IN THIS TEAM!

Second, what rock did these 2 announces for the Clippers crawl out from under. You would think by their game calling and other comments that the Clippers have won 5 championships in a row and the team is the second coming of Jesus Christ and his 12 disciples!

Third, I can tell you that the Clippers are the second coming of those punk gangster teams of the old Detroit Pistons. The punks start with Griffin...into Matt Barnes.....to Paul.......and end with Doc Rivers!   That's the best your team can do Doc against a rebuilding team who flew overnight from Denver and who is without their ALL STAR POINT GUARD!

Fourth, if I wanted to see an Ballet, I would go to Lincoln Center or the performing arts center in Boston........that is what the NBA is turning into. You might as well have a rule that no one can come within 3 feet of the man they are guarding.............that was no flagrant foul by Sully.......although he should have ripped that punk Griffins head off!

Mark my word.......the way they the ref's are calling games.......tension will build between 2 teams where you will have an all out brawl!  I am call this one now!

BRAD....STICK A COPY OF THIS GAME IN YOUR BACK POCKET AND PULL IT OUT IN ABOUT 2 YEARS....THEN WE'LL SEE IF THOSE PUNKS WIN!

112288

Rich - as usual, I mostly agree with you and LOVE your passion.

It was a good game - and in spite of lots of 4th quarter turnovers and poor execution, that Celtics stayed close and that is all we can ask of them at this time.

I think PJ is a decent color guy, but spends too much of his time qualifying his credentials (when I was coaching this guy, we did this - or, from my vast experience, I would say that).  But one thing he said last night, right after the Sullinger flagrant rang true.  He said, he loves Sullys heart and desire to play hard - but that he has to make his hard fouls look more like a basketball play if he wants to stop getting into trouble with flagrant fouls.

So half of that statement shows the pure idiocy of the modern NBA.  PJ is in essence saying, the refs have been instructed to call flagrant fouls on plays that LOOK LIKE FLAGRANT FOULS.  Doesnt matter if they are or not, if you come down with both hands - even if you get all ball, they are going to call a flagrant.  David Stern and the NBA brass have taken to judgement out of the equation - and so refs know, even if they replay shows all ball, they will get in trouble with the league office if they are not in lockstep with the league office.

So in lieu of the above, PJs "make it look like a basketball play" is great advice.  Sully has to get a bit stronger and a bit fitter - and be able to deliver more blows and impose his will more with his legs and on the lower body vs. coming down across the top.  There are lots of players in the NBA who are just as physical as Sully - who dont get called for flagrant fouls every night - and this is down to what PJ said.  

Sad state of affairs in the current NBA and I think you are 100% on point with your comment about a brawl brewing.  In spite of the back and forth of the last few days out here, NBA players are not fools and they know that some players are allowed to play under a different set of rules.  It is only so long before that pot boils over and players take things into their own hands.

MrK,

PJ I love, I had the LAC feed last night on NBA League pass and those bozo's


112288

They started out slow but rallied back, only to be thwarted by a better team executing more effectively.  This is what we expect and should expect.  The Denver game pissed me off because we gave up but this one I'm fine with because we played with pride.  We're just not good enough.  Yet.

We started the game off being down 26-10.  For us to take the lead in the 4th, more than once, works for me even if we did eventually lose.  Sometimes, in order to put some polish on something, a necessary ingredient is some grit.  I saw us having some ganas last night and, Lord Knows, we didn't any the previous night.  

I had the Clipper feed too.  Too be honest, I didn't hear the same thing 112288 heard.  I heard, and I heard this during the game in Boston, former Celtic #1 pick Michael Smith extol the Celtics.  I heard him talk about how much better Bradley's shooting was (as opposed to the Denver idiot who was still living in yesteryear).  I heard them fear Jordan Crawford's scoring ability and marvel at how they had no idea he could also play point (neither could anybody else including me).  I did not hear them go nuts over the Sully flagrant.  I heard them repeat a comment they made in Boston, about how Bass is one of the top 5 mid-range shooters in the league.  Sure, they oohed and ahhed over their team, that's their job, but they also were quite concerned when the Celtics rallied.  Fear is expressed in many different ways (e.g. anger, awe, resentment, bitterness, obedience, submission, violence), but all of them reflect some form of respect.  Personally, I love it when announcers talk smack about us.  I take it as motivation,  like 112288 says Stevens should do by marking this game, and I take it as respect.  If you've noticed, I have not been shy about calling the local announcers "idiots" when I think it is warranted.  I usually get the local feed, so I hear their announcers more often than I hear Mike and Tommy, so maybe I'm just more used to them.

Thanks Rosalie, die-hardest Celtic fan, for hanging  with me on the Game On Thread.  Nothing hurts my ears more than an echo chamber.

1.  Hump started in place of Sully.  Was that an attempt to protect Sully from another flagrant?  If so, you need Sully (and the refs) to cooperate and they didn't.  Sully only played 12 minutes.  In those 12 minutes he scored 2 points on 1-6, grabbed 3 rebounds and committed 4 fouls including another flagrant.  I believe some of this is him being marked by the refs (don't you think they know who are leading the league in flagrants?) and that Sully's in a bit of a mental meltdown.  I love Sully, just about everything about him, but he's hurting the team right now.  Unless his hand is really, really bad this is just mental and short of completely benching him so he can clear his head I'm not sure how to fix this.  I don't think the Sully-Griffin matchup did much to stabilize his psyche either.

2.  Against Denver the previous night our starting back court stunk a mile-high.  Last night, they were killers.  The inconsistency is enough to turn Stevens gray.  Bradley and Crawford were in full-blown scoring mode last night, scoring 48 of the Celtics' total 105 points (46%) on 17-35 shooting.  Throw in Bayless' 11 and it's even more guard-heavy.  Bradley was 10-18 and took turns tormenting Clip PG Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford (there ought to be an NBA rule that limits the number of players with the same last names).  The Clip announcers were talking Bradley up.

3.  Bayless is impressing me.  I haven't focused much on his defense (it appears adequate, but integrating into a team defense concept takes more time than showing offense flash) but he has come in and has played hard and sure isn't afraid to shoot.  Another lousy shooting night for him, 3-9, but he also has had 5 assists and only 2 TOs (as opposed to Crawford's 8 assists and 5 TOs) but he drives to the basket, is good at 3s (2-4 last night) and has a good energy level.  Contract issues aside it's looking, initially, like we got good value for Courtney Lee (whom I like and admire, so that's a compliment).  Obviously, we'll know much more 3 months from now, but first impressions are positive.

4.  Kelly looked active out there.  He made a nice interior pass, has good vision.  He is, I think, clearly intimdated trying to score inside.  Stevens matched him up against DeAndre Jordan.  NOT a good idea.  Jordan had 8 boards at the half, 3 offensive and all the offensive ones were against Kelly.  I don't know why Stevens didn't put Vitor on him.  After 10 years of Doc, we all pretty much knew (or, at least, think we know) how he thought, how he coached, how he liked to matchup.  We haven't known Brad Stevens long enough to learn that, but I don't see his matching Kelly up against Mozgov on Tuesday and Jordan on Wednesday as something I understand (unless he wanted Kelly to run more on Mozgov and shoot from outside more on Jordan; and Kelly just didn't do what he was told?).

5.  If there was a knock by the Clip announcers it was on Jeff Green.  They thought his intentional foul on Jordan, which gave him his 5th with a few minutes left in the 3rd, was dumb (Green dumb, or Stevens dumb for not yelling WHO should foul Jordan?  Later in the game I was able to hear Stevens yell "foul him, AVERY, foul him now!", so maybe Stevens learned his lesson).  They said "if Jeff Green is your best player, you're not very good.  He'd be a good role player on a lot of teams but..."  Green had an ok game, not great, but Blake Griffin owned him.  He did grab 11 rebounds.  That's a TON for Green.  Green tried, he really did, but Griffin's success derailed him a bit.

6.  Griffin is maturing.  He hit some nice mid-range shots and one buzzer-beating turn around baseline jumper almost from 3 with Green draped on him you won't see again for a while.  If only he could hit free throws.  11-17, 64%, last night.  We've seen nights when the entire Celtics squad didn't get 17ftas.

7.  Every time Jordan Crawford takes a shot in traffic, which seems to be most of the time, he yells "AND ONE!".  Every time, even if there is no foul.  The refs aren't listening to you, Jordan, especially after the 10th fga.  Another "maybe this will get on Sportcenter, oops, maybe not" pass by Crawford.  I realize he has to "Steez" a bit, but sometimes he creates a turnover instead of an assist because he just has to get cute and we're not good enough to waste possessions.

8.  Jared Dudley hit three 3s in a row.  Not good recognition of who the hot shooter was.  We were collapsing too much and so were late on closing out their shooters.  That's why I don't understand why Stevens didn't put Sully and Vitor on Jordan, instead of putting Sully on Griffin and DNPing Vitor, and let the more mobile Hump and Bass defend Griffin.  It would have allowed our guards to stay closer to the perimeter and their shooters.  Well, I guess this is why I'm not a coach.

They took 9 more ftas than us and sank 6 more.  This ended up being a 6 point loss.  Crawford with a technical and that blown fast break because of his attempted Steez pass.  A stupid foul by Kelly with only a few seconds left in the 2nd half on a 3pt fga (Crawford, theirs, hit all 3 ftas).  Green committing his 5th foul and sitting for 10 minutes because he fouled Jordan and not someone more expendable or with fewer fouls.  That's how close this game was.  A few brain farts away from an upset of a pretty good WC team.  That's why I'm not that upset.

Brooklyn ended GSW's 10 game winning streak (if GSW had won this would be the first time in NBA history a team went 7-0 on a road trip).  Some pretty poor coaching by the Nets in the final 4 minutes made it closer than it should have been (some great defense by KG in the final minute too).  We are now 1 1/2 behind them.  After a horrendous start, the Nets are now in the #8 slot.  The surprising Horford-less Hawks beat the Pacers. Damn. I guess I gotta put a contract out on Jeff Teague too.

We are in the #10 slot, 1 game behind Detroit (which lost last night) and percentage points ahead of NYK.

And the pissed off GSW are up next.  I can't believe I spaced out and didn't get tickets, I'm going to a concert instead.  I'm going to Boston to see the Celtics play, but I don't go to see them when they're in the bay area.  Stupid is as stupid does.


bob


.

I didn't see the game until partway through the third quarter, so I can't comment directly on what happened prior to that point.

I was pleased to see Boston playing more engaged defense than I saw in the Denver game. They were at least up on the Clippers and fighting to stay with them.

Unfortunately, the Clippers have shooters, and they were the difference last night. Jared Dudley apparently did his damage early, and Jamal Crawford did his late. Crawford is both a scorer and a shooter, and when he's on as a shooter like he was at the end of that game, he can be unstoppable. I was surprised to look at the box score and see he was only 8-26 for the game; he must've missed everything early, because it seemed like he hit that many in the time I was watching.

Blake Griffin is obviously talented, but he has tendencies that make me 1) think his career will be short; and 2) not like him. He relies so heavily on his leaping ability and spin moves with short, powerful bursts that he puts himself at risk of injury and hasn't developed more of his game to be successful independent of his athleticism. To make me not like him, he's always doing stuff like he did with Jordan Crawford, where he gets tangled up and then purposely keeps the other player tangled. He had Crawford's foot pinned between his legs and then rolled, which actually could be dangerous to Crawford. Crawford took exception, and then Griffin gets up and acts like, "Who, me?" People do this stuff to Griffin, but I've seen him do it just as much, so he can't claim innocence.

Speaking of Jordan Crawford, oh my. Another decent statistical line of 24 points, eight assists, and five turnovers, but some of the shots he takes are basically turnovers. The thing is, he's the only guy I see out there willing to bear the ballhandling load, so it's hard to put too much blame on him when the other players play hot potato with the ball most of the time. As is often noted, they really need Rondo, and it will be interesting to see how Crawford adapts once Rondo returns. One thing I really liked last year after Rondo went down is that everyone shared the ballhandling duties, which made them unpredictable and prevented any one individual from sagging under the ballhandling load. It would be nice to see Green, Bradley, and Bayless take some of that on as the season progresses.

Based on the portion of the game I saw, Jeff Green did a nice job rebounding but seemed to shy away from the ball otherwise. Since he wound up with 15 points and 11 rebounds, he must've done his scoring damage early, because I kept waiting for him to assert himself, but he deferred instead to Crawford.

Humphries worked hard, Bass looked good, but they need a couple of shooters. Jerryd Bayless, I hear opportunity knocking. Marshon Brooks too, if he learned anything in his D-league stint and can keep himself under control. Those guys could make a difference.

As far as the two notable calls I saw, I wish Humphries had established position on Griffin's dunk, but he was inside the restricted area and clearly moved forward while Griffin was in the air. On Sullinger's flagrant, I initially didn't think it was one, but he came down on Griffin's head and neck, and that will get it every time. Being willing to give a hard foul is fine, but you have to stay away from the head and neck. Since the league rescinded the first Denver flagrant, that puts Sullinger back to five flagrant points. One more, and he's suspended for a game. Each point after that, he's suspended for two games. There was no intent on his part to do harm and he was clearly upset that a flagrant was called, but he also clearly hit Griffin in the head and neck. I have no problem with the NBA making the head and neck off limits, and his flagrants to Faried and Griffin were both blows to the head. He has to be smarter than that.

Like Bob, I thought if the Warriors beat the Nets and went 7-0 on their road trip, they'd be vulnerable in the first game back home, which is typically a "down" game for the home team. They may still be down, but the loss to the Nets may put a chip on their shoulder, and the home crowd in Oakland energizes them. With the combination of Lee's inside scoring and all their good perimeter shooters, Golden State is a tough matchup for the Celtics. Curry and Klay Thompson get the publicity, but David Lee is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds per game for the season and 22 and 11 over the past month. Still, when the Warriors are off, they can be had by anyone, as losses to the Bobcats and the Lakers prove.

Bob,

I guess my frustration with the LAC announcers stemmed not from their negative remarks about the Celtics...they did say that the Celtics were rebuilding and Stevens was the best basketball mind to come out of college and Bradley was a great defender............no my rub came from their style of announcing and the way they described the play of the LAC's by PUFFING WAY OUT OF PROPORTIONS the Clippers accomplishments on the court against an inferior team that is in the first year of rebuilding and A TEAM WITH NO TRUE CENTER, NO ALL STAR POINT GUARD .........AND A TEAM WITH A LACK OF REAL TALENT DEPTH ON THE BENCH.

You know, there is away to show some class by not bragging about how they are shoving things down our throat....... I mean ya, they shoved things down our throat by some of their play........but you would expect that against a rebuilding team........but try attempting the same kind of execution and play against......Ah....Miami......SA......Golden State......Indy......not happening my friend!

I guess Mike and Tommy are head and shoulders above most if not all announcing teams in professional basketball and I am spoiled!

112288

112288 wrote:Bob,

I guess my frustration with the LAC announcers stemmed not from their negative remarks about the Celtics...they did say that the Celtics were rebuilding and Stevens was the best basketball mind to come out of college and Bradley was a great defender............no my rub came from their style of announcing and the way they described the play of the LAC's by PUFFING WAY OUT OF PROPORTIONS the Clippers accomplishments on the court against an inferior team that is in the first year of rebuilding and A TEAM WITH NO TRUE CENTER, NO ALL STAR POINT GUARD .........AND A TEAM WITH A LACK OF REAL TALENT DEPTH ON THE BENCH.

You know, there is away to show some class by not bragging about how they are shoving things down our throat....... I mean ya, they shoved things down our throat by some of their play........but you would expect that against a rebuilding team........but try attempting the same kind of execution and play against......Ah....Miami......SA......Golden State......Indy......not happening my friend!

I guess Mike and Tommy are head and shoulders above most if not all announcing teams in professional basketball and I am spoiled!

112288

112288,


Yeah, they do "up-sell" their team a bit much, but considering how many decades they have wandered through the Donald Sterling Wilderness in search of The Promised Land (ANY promised land), can you really blame them for being excited when they actually finally have the better team, with the better coach, in LA?


bob


.

Bob,

Ya I buy your argument.......but just do your PUFF MARKETING when you accomplish such feats against the top 5 teams in the league not a rebuilding team.

112288

As I stated in another post.....SELL HIGH!

Crawford....as much as I love the kid and having him wear his heart out on his jersey..........he just reverts back to old bad habits!

Although Pressey is quick and has some nice flair to his game by pushing the ball up court...but he is way undersized for the NBA.

Now I know...I know......someone is going to start naming other small players in the league....past and present.......and I know the names.......Pressey just does not have the leaping ability and athletism as a Nate Robinson....I see him winding up in Europe or Asia. Come on if his father was not a player and once with the Celtics, would the kid even get a look? I bet that Bayless comes back next year before Pressey.

112288

Bob, last night I went to a Greg Allman concert in a small (2500 person) Sarasota venue. Talk about a great concert. His voice was as good as ever and he was killer on the organ as was his whole band, especially his son Devon on guitar. I got home just in time to read you and Rosalie signing off. Too bad I missed you two, but the concert was so well worth it.

112288, DBoss,

I agree that Crawford's inconsistencies are a problem. As much as I like him, he can be too much of a loose cannon at the wrong times. I'm not necessarily saying he should be traded, but he would bring decent value if need be.

In other notes, the team played much better. The effort was there but so were the mistakes. Those mistakes are inevitable, however, considering their current personnel.

They need to continue working on their uptempo game, and they need to get accustomed to how it feels to play at that pace. The way the league is now, most teams don't want to run all night. That should be the point of emphasis.



KJ