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Celtics 106, Kings 84: Boston finds a quality mix


BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics have been searching for the right lineup combinations since trading away Rajon Rondo earlier this month and they found an intriguing mix during Wednesday's 106-84 triumph over the Sacramento Kings.

Evan Turner produced the first double-digit assist game of his career while registering 10 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebounds as the starting point guard. Jameer Nelson added eight assists off the bench while helping rookie Marcus Smart direct the second-unit offense.

Boston generated a total of 32 assists on 44 field goals while shooting 46.8 percent overall.

Despite missing practice the past two days due to a sprained ankle, Jared Sullinger produced a loud double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Kelly Olynyk added 15 points off the bench.

DeMarcus Cousins finished with 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting with 11 rebounds, but his night ended early when he was ejected for registering his second technical foul -- the last of which featured him throwing Smart to the ground in response to a hard box out by the Boston rookie -- in the fourth quarter.

• Let's get physical: One game after Sullinger suggested opponents think the Celtics are soft, Boston responded with some fight during Wednesday's game, all while dealing with the combustible Cousins. Tyler Zeller drew a flagrant-1 foul for striking Cousins in the head on a hard foul in the third quarter, then Smart earned a double technical for his part in the Cousins dust-up in the fourth (Smart got up quickly and got in Cousins' face in response to being thrown).

• Loose balls: Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he wanted to stick with a 9- or 10-man rotation. Boston played 12 bodies overall (only Gerald Wallace was a healthy DNP), but leaned heaviest on a 10-man core with extended minutes for newcomers Nelson and Jae Crowder. ... Gino Time rolled during the final TV timeout.

• What it means: In a year full of struggles, the Celtics closed out 2014 with a bang. Boston improves to 11-18 overall; the Kings fall to 13-19. The Celtics welcome back old friend Rajon Rondo when the Dallas Mavericks visit TD Garden on Friday night.

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Celtics put King-size slam on Sacramento, 106-84

CSNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics were playing with a level of physicality on Wednesday that we have rarely seen this season . . . and the Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins didn't like it.

Boston bumped, bristled, poked, pushed and shoved him around most of the game until he literally lost his cool and slammed Marcus Smart to floor. He was whistled for a technical, his second of the game, which was an automatic ejection.

That play in many ways showed just how unraveled opponents can be when the Celtics come out and hit first, which set the tone for a convincing 106-84 win in a New Year's Eve matinee at TD Garden.

Boston (11-18) snapped a four-game losing skid and gave Brad Stevens his seventh win this month, tying the most victories he's had in a single month since becoming the Celtics coach last season.

More than any milestone, the Celtics saw first-hand just how playing with force from the opening tip until the final horn, can work. Shots at the basket weren't contested as much and defensively, the physical play totally rattled the Kings, which is surprising because of how physical the Kings have been this season.

The Cousins-Smart brush-up came in the fourth quarter, but his temper was boiling over well before that incident.

In the third quarter, Cousins went up for what's usually an easy lay-up against the Boston Celtics. But Tyler Zeller had other plans. He fouled Cousins hard, hard enough to where the replay made the officials change it from a regular foul to a flagrant-1 personal foul.

That play spoke to how Boston elevated its level of physicality against Sacramento, which would be one of the keys to the Celtics pulling away for a much-needed win.

WHAT WORKED

Ball movement: Evan Turner was running the show, but the ball never seemed to get bogged down in the hands of one or two players. This was clear by the Celtics making 44 field goals that came on 32 assists.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK

3-point shooting: This was never a major factor in the game's outcome, which was a good thing for the Celtics who connected on just 23.8 percent of its 3s.

KEY PLAY/STRETCH

Boston opened the game with a 9-0 run, and the Kings were never able to recover.

WHAT'S NEXT

Boston hosts the Dallas Mavericks and ex-Celtic Rajon Rondo in his first return to the TD Garden, on Friday.
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5 THINGS WE LEARNED AS CELTICS FRUSTRATE DEMARCUS COUSINS, KINGS

WEEI

By Ben Rohrbach

It was quite a New Year’s Eve party in the Garden on Wednesday afternoon, as DeMarcus Cousins provided the fireworks and Gino started the dance party during the Celtics‘ 106-84 win over the Kings.

A frustrated Cousins (11 points, 11 rebounds) earned his second technical foul of the game in the fourth quarter, but by that time it was already Gino Time. Jared Sullinger led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and fellow Ohio State product Evan Turner added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Kelly Olynyk (15 points), Jae Crowder (12 points) and Marcus Smart (11 points) all scored double-digits off the bench.

The C’s improved to 11-18, remarkably just three wins out of the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed.

FRUSTRATING COUSINS

Asking Celtics center Tyler Zeller to curb Kings counterpart DeMarcus Cousins‘ production was a tall order on New Year’s Eve, but Zeller drank in the challenge, causing all sorts of problems for Cousins. The Sacramento star missed eight of his first nine shots and earned his first technical foul for his trouble. Cousins still got his double-double, of course, but Zeller’s early effort helped the Celtics establish a 49-39 halftime lead.

POINT GUARD OF THE FUTURE

Despite the presence of rookie Marcus Smart and veteran Jameer Nelson on the roster, erstwhile wing Evan Turner is proving once again he’s the best point guard on the Rajon Rondo-less Celtics. Starting at the point for the second time since the Rondo trade, Turner collected double-digit assists for the first time in his career.

SULLY’S BURSTS HIS DOUBLE-DOUBLE BUBBLE

After calling the Celtics “sweet and soft” following Saturday’s loss to the Wizards, Sullinger described Tuesday’s practice as a “WWE”-style royal rumble, and the Celtics forward responded with his first double-double in five games. Interestingly, the C’s asked their players on the Jumbotron which teammate they would pick as a tag-team partner, and Smart selected Sullinger because of his “caboose.” The Celtics badly need that backside bumping its way to the basket going forward.

SMART SHOOTING

Coming off the bench behind Turner, Smart connected on three of his five 3-point attempts, collecting 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals in arguably his best performance side returning from the ankle injury. Plus, he got Cousins tossed on the Kings center’s second technical foul, showing a fight the Celtics have rarely seen since Kevin Garnett left Boston.


JUST NOT WRIGHT

Brandan Wright, the supposed centerpiece of the Rondo deal, played just five minutes before entering the game again in garbage time. Soon-to-be Brandon Bass, who has expressed his displeasure with a dwindling role, came off the bench before the 24-year-old newcomer. Whether it was the squeaky wheel getting the grease or not, the C’s need to find time to figure out what they got in Wright. On the bright side, Crowder came off the bench to score a dozen, and Nelson added eight assists in his reserve role.

I am not sure that I like Turner as the starting point guard on a regular basis yet, but if he can come close to replicating what he did today I can easily be convinced.

With Turner starting, however, it may give Smart some time to adjust to becoming the combo type guard that he appears to be. Many others have recently mentioned him in such a role as well. If he continues to play with Nelson, he will not have to be "the" distributor even in the second group.

All of this type of moving people around would seem to indicate that Bradley could be traded for help at some other position as he is perhaps the Cs best trade chip right now.

Does Cousins get at least ONE technical for doing this to Smart?  I can't copy the video, you'll have to go to the link to see it.

I REALLY like two things about this sequence:

1.  Marcus Smart has the awareness of the fundamental need to put a body on someone and box them out.  Whether he knew it was the bigger Cousins is another issue, his  BB instinct was right.

2.  He bounced right up and got in Cousins' grill.  He might not have known whose body he was getting into on the box out but he surely did when he sprang off the floor.  The kid is tough and fearless.  They should make Kelly watch that clip like Alex (Malcolm McDowell) in 'A Clockwork Orange'.





http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/12/31/7475917/cousins-tosses-smart-who-doesnt-back-down



bob


.

Today we had ball and body movement. Good things happen when you do both things ...................it's like poetry in motion.

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Yes, the ball fairly flew around the court on numerous Celtics offensive sequences. They spaced the floor well and shared the ball intelligently, remaining in attack mode often enough to win every quarter. It's not every day any team, to say nothing of the Celtics, assists on 73% of their made field goals. When you have two players with 8 and 11 assists respectively, from the "1" position, that's a mark of superior ball movement The pick-and-roll game was working equally well with either Zeller or Wright.One would have expected that Cousins' presence alone would give Sacto an advantage in the paint, but points in the paint were practically equal (Celtics 46, Kings 48).

But it was clearly the defense that was the driver in this contest. The Celtics rolled out a fascinating combination of double-teaming and trapping defense that simply seemed to befuddle and frustrate the Kings the whole game long. The Celtics' best defensive player was whoever was guarding Cousins at any given time. Zeller, Wright, Sully and Bass took turns at that job, and each of the four had some fine defensive moments. But Smart, Bradley, Green, and even Kelly Olynyk all shone on the defensive end.

The starters's aggregate plus/minus was +10 (in 115 combined minutes), while the bench was at +12 in 125 combined minutes. Nice not to have to play anyone more than Marcus Smarts' 28 minutes on the day before a back-to-back game.

Their 94 field goal attempts will provide a balm to Bob Heckler if he gets agita from the food abroad. The only stat that somewhat marred Turner's game (10/6/11) were his 4 of only 11 Boston turnovers—otherwise known as "Turnerovers." But a team total of 32 assists versus 11 turnovers is superb.

For the most part (with just enough exceptions to prove the rule), the playmaking has been pretty good since Rondo left. But, perhaps of greater importance, the offensive structure has emphasized tempo, spacing, rhythm, motion, and great swing of the ball. The few times I've kept my own stats, this team has benefited greatly when they get off a shot within 10 seconds of a possession.

Take it to the Mavs, guys.

Sam

Sam

I Did not see the game but what I am reading indicates a solid game at both ends. How would you rate this game as compared to other good wins this year?

I am most interested in the defense. How was their pick and role defense?

Dboss

Hi,
I agree, the defense's getting better.
As for ET playing major minutes as a PG, he's OK until he starts to dribble too much.
On the other side - what a waste of talent Cousins is...

AK

dBoss,
Solid game where they were consistent on both ends of the floor. They were very active in stripping the ball away from Sac players and they shut down the interior on both ends to allow for rebounding.

It was the largest margin for a win this year by the Celtics.

Have a Happy New.............112288

Cousins,

Too talented too soon, too young, too immature, too much money.......just right for the Knick's to make an offer! LOL

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sam wrote:Yes, the ball fairly flew around the court on numerous Celtics offensive sequences.  They spaced the floor well and shared the ball intelligently, remaining in attack mode often enough to win every quarter.  It's not every day any team, to say nothing of the Celtics, assists on 73% of their made field goals.  When you have two players with 8 and 11 assists respectively, from the "1" position, that's a mark of superior ball movement   The pick-and-roll game was working equally well with either Zeller or Wright.One would have expected that Cousins' presence alone would give Sacto an advantage in the paint, but points in the paint were practically equal (Celtics 46, Kings 48).

But it was clearly the defense that was the driver in this contest.  The Celtics rolled out a fascinating combination of double-teaming and trapping defense that simply seemed to befuddle and frustrate the Kings the whole game long.  The Celtics' best defensive player was whoever was guarding Cousins at any given time.  Zeller, Wright, Sully and Bass took turns at that job, and each of the four had some fine defensive moments.  But Smart, Bradley, Green, and even Kelly Olynyk all shone on the defensive end.

The starters's aggregate plus/minus was +10 (in 115 combined minutes), while the bench was at +12 in 125 combined minutes.  Nice not to have to play anyone more than Marcus Smarts' 28 minutes on the day before a back-to-back game.

Their 94 field goal attempts will provide a balm to Bob Heckler if he gets agita from the food abroad.  The only stat that somewhat marred Turner's game (10/6/11) were his 4 of only 11 Boston turnovers—otherwise known as "Turnerovers."  But a team total of 32 assists versus 11 turnovers is superb.

For the most part (with just enough exceptions to prove the rule), the playmaking has been pretty good since Rondo left.  But, perhaps of greater importance, the offensive structure has emphasized tempo, spacing, rhythm, motion, and great swing of the ball.  The few times I've kept my own stats, this team has benefited greatly when they get off a shot within 10 seconds of a possession.

Take it to the Mavs, guys.

Sam

shone on defense? really? I saw KO get beat repeatedly defensively, especially close to the basket and that was with him being kept off of Cousins. Sully is by no means a great defender, but he has the girth to at least battle bigs on the block, we have to hide KO as much as possible on defense.