Post-game Thread: Celts 107 vs. Heat 102, 2/3/10

[Sam]

I'll chime in on this thread later on. In the meantime, go to it. My advance hint is that my one glimmer from this game was that it was the second consecutive game in which they didn't let up at the end. I'm not listing Tony's great play as a glimmer because it's becoming nothing new.

Post in good health.

Sam

[Jerry Tarkanian]

Hello again all !

Celts looked good this evening !

[fiorelladad]

Is it me or when the offense runs through Rondo instead of Pierce in crunch time, they delivered? I think that the offense should go to Rondo and let him draw defenders like a magnet. When Paul tries to take over as a last shot or as a decoy, lately the other teams have seen it coming and have forced him into a tough shot waiting for the refs to bail him out or a costly turnover. What do you think?

[Sam]

Nice to see posts from Tark and Florelladad. Flore, I think you've got a very good point about the predictability of Peirce as the primary go-to guy; and I'd add to that the fact that the deliberate nature of his preferred iso tactic gives the defense all sorts of opportunities to prepare for it.

Anyway, here's my post-game post, for whatever it's worth:

The name of the game (literally) in this one was “balance.” Balanced scoring. A balanced effort throughout the game. A wonderful balance between the offensive and defensive efforts. Balance between effectiveness of the starters (+3) and the bench (nearly +3). And, as it usually does, balance led to fluidity; and fluidity led to victory.

It was certainly no runaway and, in fact, was much in doubt until Tony Allen made what was possibly the play of the game with 36 seconds
left, the Celtics up by three, and the Heat in possession. Tony was actually hit with a solid pick by Jermaine O’Neal. He bounced off
the pick, stole the ball from Dwayne Wade, started cruising down the floor, was fouled, and hit the two freebies to give the Celtics the five-point cushion that would be the final difference. After that, it was a matter of the Celtics getting the ball into the right hands so their foul shooting could offset a couple of late scores by the Heat.

This was the third consecutive game in which Tony could arguably be called the pivotal catalyst for the Celtics—this time in a 28-minute starting stint as a fill-in for the injured (but thankfully not badly) Paul Pierce. He only scored six points (with six rebounds—four of them offensive), but his defensive presence was immense. He did an absolutely outstanding job in guarding Wade, and many of the Heat star’s 30 points were scored while Tony was on the bench with foul trouble (three in the first half). If Johnny Most were still around I’d head a campaign to encourage him to christen Tony with the nickname “Bugs” because Tony is definitely the Energizer Bunny. He did commit one passing turnover during the first minute of the game, but only one thereafter—a tiny price to pay for the effort he gave this team.

The Celtics have now gone eight consecutive quarters without scoring fewer than 23 points (26, 25, 23 and 28 versus the Heat). And, significantly, the last quarter was their highest scoring quarter in this game. No letup whatsoever.

More balance: The Celtics assisted on an astronomical 77.3% of their made field goals in the first half and then topped that figure with
80.0% in the second half.

How about the dreaded offensive rebound category? Eight in the first half and seven in the second half, for a total of 15. Close enough to balanced in my book. (In addition to Tony’s four, Rondo also had four and Glen Davis three.)

The only reason the Heat made this one close was the Celtics defense just couldn’t contain them in the first half, as Miami shot 62.5%. But the Celts really put on the clamps in the second half, holding the Heat to 43.9%.

In his team-high 44 minutes, Rondo also had the usual double double (22 points, 14 assists), trailing high scorer Ray Allen by one
point. For those who say Ray doesn’t help the Celtics in ways other than scoring, it might be noted that he was their top rebounder with seven in his 42 minutes. For those who want to see fewer minutes from Ray, I think you might as well forget about it with both Quis and Paul Pierce out of the lineup.

Ray was still misfiring on his jumper, and I believe one free throw sequence clued me in to his problem. His first of the two had a nice arc and swished through. His second was much more of a line drive and rattled out. I then began noticing how flat his perimeter shots are (he was one for five from three point land). His mid-range jumpers retain the arc (it’s almost impossible to shoot a mid-range jumper on a
line unless you’re Tommy Heinsohn), and Ray was a more-than-respectable six for 10 in two-point attempts.

KG played a solid game, with 14 points, six rebounds, and nine assists. When Rondo and KG are both distributing the ball well, you don’t hear me complain about offensive chemistry among the starters.

I did note, on the “game-on” thread, that the Heat went right at KG on defense a few times…and with a high rate of success. His jumper was working well; his ballhandling was obviously fine (just one turnover); and it continues to be on the defensive end that he has most room for improvement.

Although Sheed was only three for ten from the floor (including just one for four from the arc), he played a generally good defensive game.

Eddie deserves special mention for lighting it up pretty well (2-4 on threes, 3-5 on twos, and a perfect 4-4 from the line). Nice to see Eddie feeling pretty good about his stroke. At one point in the fourth quarter, Tony was waiting at the scorer’s table to replace
Eddie. Eddie drained a three, and Tony sat back down. On the very next play, the Celtics got a steal or rebound (I can’t recall which), and Eddie scored on a breakaway. He also was part of a very nice pick-and-roll play—a tactic on which he is totally underrated.

The margin of victory was nothing spectacular. But it was a very satisfying win. At gametime, the Heat was a .500 team, and they could be just that one player away from becoming extremely competitive on a regular basis. Wyc Grousbeck sat in on the Comcast broadcast for a quarter, and he’s convinced Lebron will be that player.

Sam

[mrkleen09]

Sometimes a team has the lead the entire game, but you still feel like they are not in control. Other times, a game is very close but you still feel like one team IS in control. Last night was one of those games.

Even thought the Celtics didn’t play a great game, and even with Dwayne Wade doing his usual job on dominating with timely jumpers and assorted circus shots, even when the score was tied – I still felt like the Celtics were in control, or at least has that extra gear needed to get the win.

Couple of observations.

KG doesn’t yet has his lift and that is the thing that is preventing him from his usually defensive domination. They drove the ball right at him, and he was jumping early and was on the decline while the driving players were still rising to the hoop. He usually has a quick jump and can wait until the last second to jump – until this returns, he will not be his old self under the basket.

Glen Davis is slowly getting back in to game shape. He played a solid game last night, battling on the boards, clearing space under the hoop, and taking hard fouls when it was called for. His jumper still has not returned, but I seem him improving every night to a place where he will be a contributor come play off time.

Eddie House played well and got into a rhythm. It is all about seeking out shots for Eddie early – so later he has his rhythm. Liked what I saw from him.

TA is playing really good basketball and it starts on D. He did a good job on Wade, helped out a lot, rebounded well, steals, more careful with the basketball. Overall a very solid effort from Tony.

Rondo is turning into a great player. He clearly was the best Celtic on the court last night and is a All Star in every sense of the word. Now lets see him go out and win the MVP award in a few weeks – and serve notice to the NBA that the best young PG is Rajon Rondo – not Rose, Paul or Williams.

[sinus007]

Hi,
Not much to add to the excellent comments by Sam and mrkleen - thanks.
Nothing spectacular last night, just a good solid game. A couple of concerns though.
KG is still very..., I don't know, cautious, rusty. I didn't watch the whole game just the 4th quarter. In one episode he was late on defensive rotation and allowed Hasleem(sp) to penetrate to the hoop. In another he was in position that in the past usually led to aley-oop, he didn't go for it. I hope it's just a matter of a few more games to bring him to the right level.
The other one is RA. I don't know, maybe he spends too much energy on defense and doesn't enough left for his usual silky-smooth jumper?

AK

[bobheckler]

Is it me or when the offense runs through Rondo instead of Pierce in crunch time, they delivered? I think that the offense should go to Rondo and let him draw defenders like a magnet. When Paul tries to take over as a last shot or as a decoy, lately the other teams have seen it coming and have forced him into a tough shot waiting for the refs to bail him out or a costly turnover. What do you think?

fiorelladad,

I posted on the "what's wrong" thread that the Celts have been playing too much ME-ball in the 4th quarter, usually through Pierce. What we saw last night was what happens when Pierce is NOT the central point in the offense. You get balance. You see the ball in Rondo's hands and he's dishing out assists. I really liked the way they played last night. Their defense wasn't good in the first half but a lot of that was DWade being DWade and Miami hitting some big shots.

Tony looked good, again. Davis is looking like he's getting back into rhythm. Daniels will start practicing with the club today and might play Sunday.

We're hanging in there despite a lot of lost time to injuries.

bob

[fiorelladad]

Many doubters have pressed the panic button early on and even traded Allen in their minds for Monta Ellis which can't bring what ray brings NOW. I have to admit that it has been an infuriating stretch of games but looking at it from a farther perspective, I believe that:

1. Doc has had to play Ray an abominable amount of minutes due to the lack of guards. Also Eddie hasn't been Eddie either up till last night, so Ray's number has been called a plenty.

2. If the bigs are not boxing out (Sheed.....), the guards have been VERY active on the boards. I think with the speed of Rondo and TA, they have been able to attack the glass AND run away in transition immediately after.

3. No more stagnant ball. The assists have been a beauty to behold from the entire team. When this happens the defense is kept guessing and gambling. All for not making the offense predictable. (Pierce in iso)

4. Lack of turnovers or a minimum of TO's in the fourth. In the last 2 games the TO's have been kept at bay allowing for less possessions for the other teams and good rhythm and flow on our offensive end.

5. I still think that Shelden can be a useful asset given playing time, especially in the boards which have been eluding us all season.

Also, we shouldn't subtract to add by trade. If we can enforce positions in the bench without trading, I welcome it. Please no more Ray trade BS. He's expiring contract is fodder for other teams but RIGHT NOW, I don't see an equal value trade to this year's championship run.

I think that's all I have seen the last couple of wins while trying to take my green glasses for a nanosecond. What do my fellow green blooded clan say?

[Sam]

Good points everyone. Mrkleen, one of the things that really pleased me last night (although I didn't mention it because it was momentary) was the nice turnaround jumper by Glen Davis that barely moved the strings. He shot it without hesitation and with a certain air of expectation, which I appreciated.

I think we have to remember KG's performance earlier in the season. He started quite tentatively and progressed very very gradually until his game was quite advanced when he went down again. I think that's his approach to recuperation. Play hard, but don't risk anything stupid. No sharp turns in the frenzy of the moment. (That driving block out-of-bounds a few games ago was the limit of any gambling I can tolerate for him right now.)

I do believe he's somewhat encumbered with that thing on his leg, but he's playing within its limitations because he knows it's in his best long-term interests. I have the feeling most players with his intensity (yeah, and where are they?) could easily have a tendency to overdo and suffer a significant relapse. The way he's playing it is the best bet we have for seeing him around in May and June.

Sam

[jeb]

dman boys thought i was on the glimmer thread for a minute. lotta wisdom. plenty a reason to be hopeful.

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