POST GAME - SAC KINGS - AWAY

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Rapid Reaction: Kings 105, Celtics 98

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com
 
Rapid reaction after the Sacramento Kings defeated the Boston Celtics 105-98 on Saturday evening at Sleep Train Arena:

THE NITTY GRITTY
The short-handed Celtics -- playing without starters Rajon Rondo (rest), Avery Bradley (ankle) and Jared Sullinger (concussion) -- rallied from as much as 16 down to tie the game in the second half, but couldn't snap their Western Conference road losing streak (falling to 0-12 this season). Frustrations eventually bubbled over as both coach Brad Stevens and Gerald Wallace were tossed in the final minute. Jeff Green missed his first nine shots, but bounced back to score 29 points on 7-of-25 shooting (connecting on 13 of 18 free throws). Kris Humphries added 19 points in a gritty spot start (more on that below). Rudy Gay scored 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting with seven rebounds, while Isaiah Thomas finished with 21 points and a career-high 12 assists. The Kings put seven players in double figures overall.

HUMP GOES TO BATTLE
Starting in place of Sullinger, Humphries went to war with DeMarcus Cousins, with tempers often flaring. The pair drew a double technical late in the first half, and the jousting continued after the intermission. Cousins managed to avoid his sixth foul (or second technical) despite some close calls in the final frame. Humphries finished with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks over 36:26. Cousins, who had 31 points and 16 rebounds last time against Boston, finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

TURNING POINT
Down 11 with 10 minutes to go, Boston scored the game's next 11 points and -- if not for a missed flagrant-foul free throw by Kelly Olynyk -- might have taken its first lead of the game. Instead, the Kings got a free throw from Cousins and consecutive buckets by Gay and managed to prevent Boston from ever rallying ahead. The Celtics were down six with three minutes to go when Brandon Bass missed a pair of free throws and Cousins converted a layup at the other end to essentially put the game out of reach. With the whistles not going their way, Stevens and Wallace lashed out at the referees (and Marc Davis in particular).

LOOSE BALLS
Phil Pressey started the game at point guard, but Jerryd Bayless joined the first unit to start the second half. Bayless finished with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting with four assists, two rebounds and two steals. ... The Celtics missed 12 free throws, going 24 of 36 at the "charity" stripe (66.7 percent). The Kings countered by making 24 of 28 attempts (85.7 percent). ... Boston never led in this game. ... Highlight of the night? This probably wins. Isaiah Thomas tossed an alley-oop lob off the backboard and a trailing Derrick Williams threw it down emphatically late in the first half.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (19-38) dropped their fourth straight and fifth in their last six tries. Over the last two days, Boston has slipped beneath both the Lakers and Kings and now owns the fourth-worst record in the NBA. The Celtics close out this four-game road trip by visiting Utah on Monday, then return home to host Atlanta on Wednesday to finish up the month of February.
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WEEI 


CELTICS LOSE 17TH STRAIGHT OUT WEST IN LOSS TO THE KINGS

By Jackson Alexander 
 
The Celtics lost out on another opportunity to register its first win on the road versus a Western Conference team, as they fell to the Kings, 105-98, on Saturday.

Boston’s (19-38) current three-game road trip appeared to be a prime opportunity for the team to snap its road woes versus the West, but after falling in Sacramento (19-36), the Celtics have now lost all 12 road games against the West, and their last 17 dating back to last season. Boston still has three road games remaining with Western Conference teams (Jazz 2/24, Pelicans 3/16, Mavericks 3/17).

Rudy Gay led seven Kings in double-figures with 22 points. Point guard Isaiah Thomas registered a double-double with 21 points and 12 assists.

Jeff Green led the Celtics with 29 points, while Kris Humphries (19 points), Jerryd Bayless (16 points) and Brandon Bass (12 points) chipped in.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE CELTICS

No Sullinger, Rondo: The Celtics played without two impact starters in Rondo and  Sullinger, who were both inactive. Since returning from a lengthy absence due to a knee injury, the Celtics have avoided playing Rondo in back-to-back games (Boston lost to the Lakers, 101-92, Friday night). Sullinger suffered a mild concussion in the game versus Los Angeles, and Humphries took his place in the starting lineup. Phil Pressey stepped in for Rondo at point guard.

Green’s resilience: Green began the game ice cold, as deep into the second quarter, his stat line was highlighted by his 0-for-9 shooting from the field, and an atrocious -19 plus-minus. But Green did not let his cold start ruin the rest of his game. His overall shooting night (7-for-25) doesn’t look impressive, but after missing his first nine shots, he put together a respectable 7-for-16 line. Green’s faced constant criticism this season for his lack of aggressiveness at times, but no one could complain about his tentativeness Saturday after he attempted 11 more shots than his per-game average this season.

3-point shooting: Boston actually finished the game with more 3-pointers (six) than Sacremento (five), but for a number of reasons, that simple statistic did not properly indicate the Celtics‘ disadvantage from beyond the arc. For starters, Boston missed 15 triples, and finished at 28.6 percent from downtown, compared to the Kings who missed just four treys. Additionally, every single one of the Celtics’ missed threes ended in an empty possession — no second chances and corresponding points were recorded off of missed.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE CELTICS

Rebounding: Without their top rebounder Sullinger, and facing a dominant offensive rebounding team, the Celtic could have been excused for faltering on the boards against Sacramento. But despite missing Sullinger’s rebounds per game, Boston held the rebounding advantage (42-38), and limited the Kings, the NBA’s sixth best offensive rebounding team, to just three offensive rebounds. It took until the 7:05 minute of the third quarter for Sacramento to grab its first rebound on the offensive end.

Humphries starts: The Celtics’ highest-paid player this season has split his time with his new team in the starting lineup and coming off the bench. On Saturday he was called on to start for the injured Sullinger, and he stepped up with a complete performance. Humphries’ 19 points (9-for-13 from the field) were the most he’s scored all season, and he stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. He also made life tough for Sacremento’s double-double machine Cousins. The two sparred all night, but Humphries got the best of the immensely talented, but equally hot-headed center as Cousins finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six turnovers.

Anthony contributes: Since the Celtics traded for former Heat forward Joel Anthony, his role with the team has been relegated primarily to a spectator. He entered Saturday with just 38 minutes in 17 games as a Celtic. But with Boston’s frontline thin, Anthony saw more minutes than he’s used to from the bench.  The six-year veteran provided a spark in his 10 minutes, his highest total in a game since joining the Celtics. Anthony, never a prolific scorer to begin with, only tallied two points, but grabbed six rebounds, including four offensive, and blocked a shot.

112288

Didn't the Celts lose 18 in a row the year before we got KG and Ray and went on to win #17? I take this losing streak as a good omen.

Correct!

TANKS A LOT!

112288

To a large extent, last night’s game was more of the same.  It started with the Kings taking the ball strong to the hoop and the Celtics shooting clankers from outside.  Down the stretch, it was the Celtics making a nice comeback to tie the score after being down 16.  But, at the finish, when both teams were taking the ball to the hoop as they should in the clutch, the Kings did it more consistently and with more weapons than the Celtics.  Among all the players, Jeff Green was the most consistent Celtic, by which I mean consistently inconsistent.  He started 0-9, finished 7-25 (28%), shot 2-9 from three point land, but did manage to hit 13 of his 18 free throws, resulting in 29 points scored.  To Jeff’s credit, he played 43 minutes and, at the end of the game, was the one Celtic who incessantly took it to the hoop.

But there were some new wrinkles.  Most important, Brad Stevens “exploded” with what, by Auerbachian standards, was a sissyfit against the referees.  Gorman said that Brad’s words were something like, “You’ve been missing calls all night.”  But this three-second tirade got him tossed (along with Wallace).

With Sully nursing a mild concussion, Humphries got the start and, in 36 minutes, gave Cousins fits.  Cousins will always get points and rebounds, but he had only 13 (9 under his average) and 7 in this one, while Humph checked in with 19 and 8.  But those stats really don’t do justice to the tremendous, old-style battle they waged at both ends.  Leaning, belting, pulling out the chair, hooking, fouling.  And that was just when they were trying to get into the men’s room.

Humph clearly had the better of it, both physically and psychologically.  Despite playing longer than he’s used to (36 minutes) and taking some time to get “into” the game (while Cousins did some early damage), Kris was still running the floor all game long, while Cousins sometimes didn’t even make it down to the defensive end.  Cousins got so frustrated at Humph's defensive tenacity that he committed some silly fouls and wound up fouling out of the game (although too late to keep the Kings from putting the game away).

Another new wrinkle was that some guy named Anthony played center for 10 minutes, during which he recorded 6 rebounds (4 of them offensive).  Word has it that Anthony got into the game only because someone named dboss picketed at the arena before the game, threatening to “Georgia peach” Brad’s car.

If the trick-or-treater award in this game goes to Green, Jerryd Bayless gets no less than honorable mention.  He was 6-14 from the floor, 0-3 from behind the arc, 4-7 at the line, and recorded 4 assists and 4 turnovers.  But he got 30 minutes, compared to 18 for Pressey, who was pretty much invisible, being out-assisted 4-2 by Humphries.

Two other players performed at less than their best but, on this particular night, well above the norm for this team.  After a slow start, Steady Eddie Bass wound up with 12 points and 3 rebounds, while CJ (in 26 minutes) went 2-5 (both threes) with 4 rebounds and, once again, some ferocious defense, including plenty of help in doubling Cousins down low.  Once again, Chris had zero turnovers.  He’s averaging 0.7 turnovers per 36 minutes, which is less than half of the next-lowest player on the team (who inexplicably is Bass).

Olynyk played only 19 minutes, which (combined with Pressey’s 18) doesn’t sound a lot like tanking by playing rookies exaggerated minutes.  Kelly did have 6 boards and a couple of nice assists—one of them a brilliant touch pass ending a two-second sequence in which the ball changed hands four times in the lane, leading to a layup.  Kelly hit only one three and one freebie, but it was his defense that once again was scary-bad.  I noted on the Game-On Thread (that wasn’t lonely or anything) that Kelly tries to play defense with his arms, resulting in more reach-in fouls than the average bear because he should be relying far more on blocking out, positioning and footwork.

Bob will have many more details, but these are just a few thoughts on the game.  Perhaps the most distressing moment of the night was when Mike Gorman said (as though it’s a widely known fact) that the Kings aren’t currently focusing on winning but, instead on player evaluation as they look to the future.  And they still beat the Celtics.

Go Celtics!

Sam

First off...the Celtics havent lost 17 in a row, it is 17 in a row vs WESTERN TEAMS. They just beat Philly and Milwaukee the week before the All Star break.

Second, all that above and not one mention of Marc Davis?

BY FAR the worst official in the NBA, who has had a hard on for the Celtics for years. Guy used to bait Doc every time he worked a C's game and looks like more of the same.

DeMarcus Cousins would have ejected more than once - and fouled out of the game 4 times with no call from Davis.

If the Celtics hit their free throws they would have won the game. And if Jeff Green wasnt on the court in the 4th - they would have lost by 15 or 20.

It was poker night so I didn't see the game. Sounds chippy.

I'm off to Napa for the day, I'll catch up as soon as I can.



bob



.

Enjoy your day, BobH.



KJ

I posted yesterday that Brad cannot be Mr nice guy and I also posted that it would be nice to see Joel Anthony get some run.

Today I am so proud of Stevens.  He should wear his ejection as a badge of honor.

Sam, Anthony is not a great center by any stretch but as you noted he can play in the post and I see not good reason not to use him there.  I really hate to see Sully playing out of position at center.  It really is not fair to him to be tasked with the responsibilities of defending, rebounding and scoring against guys that are significantly taller than he is.

Each Game Jeff Green proves that he is not a reliable shooter.  I will mention again that upgrading our SF position will be required to become a contender again.  I am not going to pick on Jeff because I do believe that what we see from him is all that we can expect.  Jeff does not have a mid-range game because he does not have and will never have a great handle.  That is it.

The Celts are now tied for the 4th worse record and there is nothing on the horizon that would lead me to believe that anything will change.  The team is not tanking but they are definitely in the tank.

dboss

Mrkleen,

If you're alluding to my rather lengthy post without mentioning referees, you ought to know by now that—although I can get on refs in the heat of the moment—I don't mention referees in reflecting on games as a matter of policy. I choose not to do so because I will always feel that (1) in the long run, they make no worse calls against the Celtics than against other teams and (2) I agree with Red Auerbach that a team shouldn't let the other team get close enough so that a couple of bad calls can make a difference.

If you'd been on last night's Game-on Thread, you might have noticed my comment that Cousins deserved a technical for lashing out the way he did. That about as close as a rant against referees that you'll ever see from me. And that was in the heat of the moment. If you feel that it's somehow not my right to feel this way, that's your privilege.

I am glad that Brad got himself tossed because I believe he has to develop a more assertive demeanor.

Sam

There's one thing I neglected to mention in my post on last night's game involved sideline reporters and Brad.  I don't know how much sideline reporters are allowed to hear or to comment on as far as coaches' comments in the huddle.  I wasn't a Greg Dickerson fan; but, it seems to me that he usually mentioned some form of strategy generated by Doc in the huddle.  Abby Chin (whom I actually like more than Greg) almost never mentions strategy discussions in the Brad's huddles.  Brad usually comes off more like a cheerleader.

For example, toward the last few minutes of last night's game, she said that Brad had told the guys to play together and the game would turn around for them.  As I stated on the Game On Thread, that's college crap as far as I'm concerned.  And that's the kind of stuff I've been hearing about the huddles all season long.  Play hard.  Play with more energy.

Abby may have omitted (perhaps because that's what she's been ordered to do) more specific and strategic comments of Brad that were much more pithy, but there's only so much time in a timeout.  I know there must be some plays hatched during timeouts, so maybe what we're getting from Abby is the sanitized version.

But I'm wondering how much direction on this team comes from the coach and how much from the players.  I'm not at all knocking Brad because I like him a lot.  But, last night, there was one sequence in which Bayless got the ball in the backcourt (I can't recall how), and you could hear Brad screaming, "Run, run, run" so loudly that Mike Gorman felt compelled to reference it on air.  And Bayless basically saunter-dribbled all the way into the forecourt.  To Jerryd's credit, he kept on going, picked up speed when he got to the land, and laid one in.  But it left me with as empty a feeling as I could have in the wake of a Celtics score—especially in a game that saw the Celtics assisting on only 50% of their made field goals.

Sam

bobheckler wrote:It was poker night so I didn't see the game.  Sounds chippy.

I'm off to Napa for the day, I'll catch up as soon as I can.



bob



.

you didn't miss nutin

Sam

My comments had nothing whatsoever to do with yours...simple read the posts above mine and didnt see a mention of the atrocious decisions that Marc Davis made last night - nor did I see any reference to his long standing issues with the Celtics. Figured someone would mention it, they didnt, so I did. Nothing to read into beyond that.

I find it hard to believe that a basketball fan could watch that game last night and not see Jeff Green playing his heart out and taking the team on his shoulders down the stretch - but again, I dont expect him to get a fair shake out here. So not even getting into it.

Mrkleen,

I think Jeff Green played his heart out last night and has been more consistent in doing so over the last stretch of games. I started counting at one point, and he had only one single-digit scoring game in the previous five. My guess is that he's up to at least 10 now. I feel he's much better when he's in a flow where he's able make his moves out of a flow that includes being set up rather than when trying to create his own shot. When he missed all those early shots, there were hardly any assists being handed out by any Celtic. Later on, they were playing more as a team (at least on offense), and he not so coincidentally fared much better.

Sam

I am not so interested in the vet's performance such as Green.  What I am interested in the evolving of KO Sully Johnson and some of the other young players and how they work and execute within the system.

112288

I dont see why this is an either or discussion.

Sully has been starting for months now and KO's minutes have been consistently going up over the last few months.  They are getting plenty of time to grow and work on their games.