Celtics Central

Boxscore

It was a return to form for the Celtics.

It was back to convincing wins in a game that Paul Pierce’s back and James Posey’s back showed little ill effects, while the Warriors played the 2nd half of a back-to-back on their east coast swing. The Celtics are….uhm….. ‘back’.

Not that they were gone for very long, experiencing a one game losing streak.

They lead from beginning to end, building the lead up to 19 points in the first half, by playing solid defense and holding the high scoring Warriors to an uncharacteristic 37 points. The closest the Don Nelson led, GoldenState Warriors could get the rest of the way was 10 points (56-66) at the 4:47 mark of the 3rd quarter.

The Celtics passed (26 assists) and rebounded (52 boards) more like they had been doing 3-4 games earlier.

The Warriors started this season 0-6 and were without the mercurial Stephen Jackson. Since Jackson’s return they were 3-0 — until tonight. Al Harrington did not play tonight for ‘personal reasons’.

The Celtics out rebounded the Warriors 52-40 with Paul Pierce having his first strong board game of the season finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive. That is something that’s been eliminated from his game so far this year.

Garnett also grabbed 10 boards to go with an efficient 8-14 from the field for 20 points.

Ray Allen contributed to the rebounding effort, adding 7 of his own, to go with a team leading 21 points. He shot 3-8 from downtown, though he is still not shooting a very good pct. overall (7-18). He added 3 steals to tie Eddie House for the team lead tonight. Rondo had 2 more of the team’s 9 thefts, and led the team with 6 assists.

Doc said he wanted to see better defense from his guards after Orlando’s guards did what they pleased in the first half of the loss to the Magic.

Baron Davis and Monta Ellis returned the favor with 5 and 4 steals respectively including Davis picking Rondo’s pocket clean once. The Celtics had 17 TOs for the evening to the Warriors’ 15.

Boston scored 103 points, shot .481 from the field and .333 from the 3 pt line. against the league’s worst defense, though a much improved one in their 3 game win streak.

More impressive was holding this ‘guns blazing’ Warrior team to 82 points on .333% shooting.

I thought Kendrick Perkins had one of his best games tonight. He looked quicker to the ball on defense and had some nice defensive moments including two really nice blocks. He played 20 minutes, grabbing 7 boards to go with 3 assists and 4 TOs. He still is too slow with his offensive moves. He thinks way too much before making many a move, allowing the defense to come around and double him and strip the ball from him. He must learn to be more decisive when he gets the ball.

The Celtics remain undefeated at home, winning each time by large margins.

As in most of early their games, all three stars had plays demonstrating a high degree of difficulty. It is quite a show when they get going and, I’m sure, helps to demoralize their opponent, when they think they are playing great defense and one of the Boston three drops 2 on them anyway.

Next up are the Lakers at home on Friday. The “Kobes” come to town for the first time since Boston fans chanted MVP to Kobe at the Garden last season. I was there at that quite unbelievable moment. I think their MVP chant might be for a different player this time.

Tom

Boxscore

I didn’t see the game last night and I won’t get to see the tape of it until tonight. So….

I’ll provide the link to the CelticsStuffLive post game audio recap podcast.

It is a regular feature on Celticsblog.com.

Justin Poulin and Jim “JB” Metz of CelticStuffLive break down the game and give you their analysis of the key moments in the game.

Justin says that though Pierce missed a deep three at the end, the Celtics aren’t even in the game without him tonight. JB notes the foul call disparity between the 2 clubs, saying the refs did not let the Celtics play defense as much as they did Orlando.

The foul shooting variance was 26 to 44 taken – Orlando favor.

They make some other excellent observations about this game, so download the recap and give a listen.

All I can is that Orlando added to their legitimacy tonight by knocking off the league’s only undefeated team. They withstood a solid 2nd half comeback from 20 points up, where the Celtics even regained the lead, before pulling out the W.

The end of game had 3 missed Celtic shots that should have gone in, it appears.

I said this Orlando team is rising and tonight reinforces that thought. They seem to be about equal with the Cs right now. Both teams have beaten good but not great teams. Neither has beaten a top 5-6 contending team. Orlando has lost twice to one (Phoenix, Detroit) while Boston hasn’t played one yet.

That Boston fought back is great. That turnovers and less ball movement are occuring more often is something to address for the team.

I’ll catch up with things later tonight.

Tom

Boston plays the hot Orlando Magic at 6:00 p.m. tonight at Amway Center, in Orlando.

The Magic are leading the Southeast Division with a sparkling 8-2 record.

The anchor to this team is a young force named Dwight Howard. They decided to choose him first between what considered a toss up between him and Emeka Okafor in the 2004 draft. Both players have proved their worth, but Dwight Howard has the bigger upside.

I picked this team to make a move to the front last year. I’m doing it again this year. They are poised for a break out season. Last year, the coach Brian Hill, Darko Milicic and Jameer Nelson held the team back, IMO. Their addition of Rashard Lewis is probably the single biggest reason why the team is succeeding. He offers a counterpart to the inside game of Dwight Howard and draws coverage away from the big man.

Stan Van Gundy better understands his personnel. Darko is gone. Jameer is showing signs of ‘getting it’ and the team is playing better ball under Stan. Not coincidentally, unsung Hedo Turkoglu is having a fast start as well, averaging 17.8 pts, 5.5 bds, and 3.9 assts., largely from the small forward position.

The off season pick-up of Rashard Lewis is the big difference maker for this season. A near All Star at the small forward spot, he is being asked to play a lot of power forward in the early going for the Magic.

The Magic’s only 2 losses were at home to Phoenix (106-96) and Detroit (116-92). They have beaten play-off teams in New Jersey, Toronto, Washington, and Cleveland. The Magic are a perfect 6-0 on the road and only 2-2 at home this year. They will look to improve on that tonight.

Based on the strength of schedule, they aren’t quite as mighty looking as the record would suggest with wins over league patsies Seattle, Minn, NY, and Milwaukee.

Still this is a team with talent, a good coach and are establishing winning ways. They need a few reliable outside shooters to draw the defense away from Dwight so he can go to work. They are improved in that area with Rashard, Hedo, and surprisingly Keith Bogans, so far all hitting a decent pct from 3 pt land.

To me, Jameer Nelson is a big key. If he can become the distributor they need, they improve quite a bit. So far he is averaging a healthy 6.7 assists versus 4.3 last year in the same amount of minutes (30). That is more like it. And he gves you 13 pts, and 4 bds. this year rounding out a nice floor game.

With a top 1-2 punch in Howard and Lewis they have some nice supporting pieces to be a dangerous team. They also have good role players in Adonal Foyle, Trevor Ariza, Carlos Arroyo, and Keyon Dooling off the bench.

While not a championship contender, they will take their division this year, I predict. Only a serious revival by Miami will challenge them.

Of note: Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen, former team mates last year in Seattle will be meet for the first time.

This is a good test for the Celtics. Both teams have played well against decent, but not great, teams. Both have established winning ways. It could be said Orlando has the deeper bench. Adonal Foyle is proving to be a wise pick-up.

Paul Piere is nursing a bad back and we will see how well he does tonight and how much he plays.

Will the undefeated streak continue?

I won’t be able to post comments until very late tonight.

Catch everyone later.

T

boxscore

by Tom Halzack

Will someone please hand the Miami Heat the script?

Some forgot to clue Miami in to how Celtic games go:

Close first half. Celtics make move in the third quarter. Opponent folds. Game over.

Miami came roaring back from a 15 point, 4th quarter deficit. That scene has every other team the Celtics played this year, (save Toronto), sitting with their bags packed, waiting to shower, and get on the bus back to their hotel.

The Heat began their run with only 8:12 left in the game. Before they were through, they had erased the entire lead and had the audacity to take a 1 point lead of their own with 33 seconds left. That’s not in the script fellas.

As in those kooky old comedies, that body in the morgue sat up and looked around before the Celtic mortician tonight, Paul Pierce, clunked it in the head one final time to kill it dead.

The Celtics won an exciting game, 92-91, that was 33 seconds away from being their first loss of the season when the Celtics countered with a Paul Pierce lay-up with just 25 seconds left

Unbeknownst to all, Paul had injured his back in the Nets game, missed practice yesterday and was almost a non-participant tonight. The only indication that something was awry was that Paul was getting therapy and wouldn’t do his usual pregame locker room chat with reporters. Only afterword, were his back issues (strain) made public.

Paul…

“In the last game before I came out I strained it. I didn’t do anything yesterday. I didn’t even know if I was going to play tonight. I couldn’t participate in shootaround but it’s getting a little better and I decided to give it a go.”

Paul did struggle against a solid Miami defense tonight and had only 10 points until he made the game winner on a play drawn up for him coming out if a time out.

“Truthfully, I wa surprised coach called the play for me. I’ve been struggling all night, but he still has tremendous confidence in me, in all of us, and I wanted to be there for my teammates at the end. It was a good call.”

The Celtics continue to turn the ball over too much and it almost cost them the game tonight. Each of the starting five had one during the Heat’s drive to tie it up at the end, with Ray Allen’s being the last and most devastating as the Heat tied the game 90-90 for the first time since it was 35-35 at the 5:58 mark of the 2nd quarter.

James Posey and Ricky Davis both wanted to have good games against their former teams. Mission accomplished. Davis hit for 20 points and Posey was critical in the Celtics line up.

Mr. Versatile guarded everything from the power forward to combo point guard this evening. How many players in the league can say that they guarded everything from power forward to combo guard – let alone in the same game – and did it well?.

Miami went small to make their run and Doc countered with…… Posey on Wade?

Dwayne Wade is one of the ‘toughest to defend’, quickest driving guards in the league. Doc said he wasn’t going to trap him.

Maybe Dwayne Wade isn’t quite up to being himself after playing in only his 2nd game after being injured (1st start). Maybe Posey knew him well from playing against him in practice so much the last few years. Maybe Posey is that good of a defender.

Whatever it is, it worked quite well. Posey stayed in front of Wade almost every time and made him take tough shots. James Posey also made some big shots, had a very good all around game and finished with 13 points including 7 straight points in the 3rd when Boston opened their usually game ending 16 point lead. He also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 27 minutes.

Kevin Garnett had another outstanding game, finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds. At one point near the end of the Heat run, Garnett fouled Haslem underneath, and KG and Ricky Davis got into words.

Rajon Rondo had a good all around game, garnering 10 assists, 9 points, and 7 rebounds, including a huge shot with 1:35 left to give Boston a 4 point lead at 90-86.

Ray Allen had a tough shooting night, scoring 19 points on 5-15, and had 7 assists and 4 TOs, as the refs let the Pat Riley Heat bump him constantly, even cutting across the painted area which is supposed to be ‘bump free’.

The Celtics had 5 players in double figures (Rondo had 9) with Perkins putting up 10 on 5-8 shooting.

While this Miami team has started slow, it is a veteran team with many key players remaining from their Championship team. Tonight we saw the difference between championship caliber players and the rest of the league. They don’t give up nor give in. When the Cs thought this game was iced, the Heat warmed things up considerably and almost stole a win against the Cs on their own home court.

A note about the crowd…..It was boisterous, needed no jumbotron prompts (though they still got them) and were thoroughly into the game. It was fun to be there and a fun game to watch.

As mentioned earlier, too many turnovers (18) were once again a problem for the Celtics. The Heat protected the ball well, as the Cs, the league leading ‘stealers’, only picked their pocket 5 times all night.

If we are looking for skeletons in the Celtic closet, that is a big one. Usually, 8 game winning streaks and high turn over rates don’t go together. Neither do very good teams associate with high TOs. It seems that the enormous talent here and the big leads leading to wins anyway, have made that stat inconsequential…so far.

I’m of the mind that it cannot continue to any good long term outcome.

Doc noted he made a mistake by not playing Tony Allen more tonight (3 minutes). Certainly Tony could have been useful on both ends of the floor in this game. Leon Powe and Glen Davis did not see any PT at all.

So, the Heat didn’t follow the accepted script and the body didn’t stay dead until Paul bonked them one last time.

It did allow us to view this team in a different situation, thus in a different light. They looked beatable tonight. Yet they won again. Luck, fate or sheer talent prevailed.

Next up – the very hot Orlando Magic (8-2) in Orlando on Sunday.

Doc Rivers said that last night when asked about the team’s 7-0 start….

“It’s a number. Means zero, really for me. And hopefully for our team as well.”

It’s become the popular mental approach of the times, especially in Boston where Patriot’s coach Bill Belichik offers a similar outlook to his own undefeated team.

Concentrate on fixing things the team isn’t doing well. Don’t glory in the things it is doing well.

To be sure, the Bill Russell Celtics and even the Larry Bird Celtics would walk off the court of huge wins with little emotion during the season and even in the play-offs. They knew there was only one time to celebrate – when you reached the ultimate goal. Go back and watch the end of games with those teams. You will see what I mean. Mission accomplished. Nothing more.

In football, they say “Act like you’ve been there before, when you score a touchdown.”

This Celtic team has just scored 7 straight touchdowns. They are following the pattern of big winners. They act like they haven’t done anything yet. Zero.

In a sport where little acts of showmanship are over hyped and players think a thundering dunk earns them a place in Springfield, the new Celtics approach is surprising and encouraging.

That attitude is aptly displayed by all three of the Boston stars, starting with Kevin Garnett, but echoed by Paul Pierce many times. He has said after each convincing win over another tough opponent, “We are just scratching the surface of what we can do.”

That is either unrealistic hutzpuh or the kind of confidence that will take this team a long way. I’m betting on the latter.

Ray Allen, who I feel is has the businessman’s approach to the game on this team (not that he isn’t passionate. He is. He just is the ‘on court analyzer’ and keeps his cool under all circumstances.) feels the same way. He knows teams will start games with a flurry. The Celtics must withstand that emotional flurry and then get to work breaking that poor team down, play after play. By the third quarter the game is well in hand on most nights.

It has been a sight to behold. Championship looking. Forgive me if it is too early to say something like that. It really is looking that way and it really is too early to be thinking that. We will learn more as the season rolls on, as they play a true contending team or two and the players start to wear down a bit.

So far, they have proved they can win and win convincingly without playing a very good game all night. The last two games fit that description.

And now, for the first time, they advanced the lead with KG off the floor. Will wonders never cease?

That is one of the underlying areas of concern – the minutes played by the big three. If this team is truly championship focused, they must find ways to rest the three stars and maintain their winning ways as the season rolls on. There has been a lot of focus and energy, if not emotion, coming out of the gate. This is a marathon season with the toughest and most important part coming at the very end – the play-offs.

How Doc approachs this as the season goes on will be interesting. Will he potentially sacrifice a win here and there, to get bench players important minutes and the give the stars a rest?

Or will he ride this horse as hard and fast as possible into the stretch with the idea that it is always good to always play your best and play to win every single game.

It is said that the real top teams don’t elevate their games for the play-offs very much. They play close to that kind of intensity and focus every night during the season to get there.

It’s kind of like the ‘practice’ theory. Most coaches say the way you practice is the way you will play. Doc Rivers has said as much.

So, if the season is practice for the play-offs, then few breaks would be expected. Yet, you still rest your players at the right spots, even in play-off games most of the time.

Time will tell how the Celtics approach this aspect of the game.

Zero means nothing. But nothing means something. And sometimes something – like 7 straight wins out of the gate – means nothing.

Just ask Doc Rivers and the Celtic players.

Boxscore

The Celtics won again, beating the New Jersey Nets at home, 91-69.

A 7-0 start is their best since 1972-73 when they started 10-0 and had a Celtic best, 68 win season, only to lose to the Knicks in the play-offs.

Tonight they again defied gravity by beating the Nets twice in a week, and in the 2nd half of a back-to-back, while the Nets were rested. They were without Vince Carter who was injured in their first meeting.

What was the same:

1) The win
2) Taking the game over in the 3rd period
3) Great defense

What was different:

1) Increasing the lead with Garnett off the court
2) A balanced scoring attack and 6 double figure scorers
3) Being taken out of their game for the entire first half
4) The crowd didn’t need a scoreboard prompt to get loudly into this game, mostly in the second half. It felt great to be there for that.

The biggest story, besides the win streak, was #1, that they actually increased the lead with KG on the bench.

Kevin went out with foul trouble with an 8 point lead at the 4:38 mark of the 3rd quarter. The lead shrunk to 4 points before they reclaimed that and added much more. By the time KG came back the lead was 16 points. I don’t think anything like that has happened this year before.

The unit that did most of the damage had Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, James Posey, and Glen Davis. They were up 12 when Pierce came in for Tony Allen. Though Davis didn’t score, he did have a huge block on the guy who blocked him the quarter before, Sean Williams. Davis’ energy was needed as the Celtics came out a little flat – and tired tonight.

When he walked into the locker room afterwards, Glen Davis was singing that he was ‘so happy!’ He said he was happy about everything – including the fact that he got his first pay check. So now he’s got some NBA money to burn. I asked him about his own ‘burn’ tonight.

He said he was surprised that he got the minutes, but that he has to be ready to play ‘when they call your number’. He waxed philosophical for a moment…

“Just to know that I helped……You gotta be those ‘other’ guys. You know like those guys in the picture – you just see their hand. That’s me. I’m that guy. You know. Who’s that guy?

Most guys who have the chance to snatch immortality? (You) don’t see those other guys who are stepping stones to (help them) have a chance and that’s what I am on this team….Whatever I got to do to help the team.”

Glen didn’t score a point but played 9 minutes and had a block, a steal and 3 rebounds. More important, he was part of the unit that pulled away with Garnett on the bench.

The unit that started the 2nd half played solid ‘Garnett-less’ defense as a unit (Ray Allen, Tony Allen, James Posey, Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis). Rajon Rondo and James Posey had some critical steals and shots, to get the crowd on its feet. Rajon stole the ball from Bostjan Nachbar, passed it to Ray Allen who found Posey for a 3 pointer that made it 68-54. That got everyone up on their feet. Another game, another rout was on.

Giving credit where it is due, the Nets defense also had something to do with the Celtics first half performance. The Celtics shots were all contested unless your name was Rondo or Perkins.

Rajon came through by hitting his open jumpers tonight for 13 points on 6-9 shooting. Ray Allen experienced a tough shooting night (4-14) but led with 6 assists.

Garnett’s double double streak ended as he finished with 16 points and 8 boards. Paul Pierce was 6-10 for 15 points. Kendrick Perkins had 8 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with 10 points.

Tony Allen scored 13 points and played probably his best game so far, including handling point guard duties for awhile tonight. While tentative at times, he attacked the basket for some success though not the same as a pre-injury TA would have.

The team continued to have TO problems in the first half with 10. They managed better in the second half finishing with 14 total.

Celtics, the league leaders in FG% against, and steals, added to that tonight by holding the Nets to 33% shooting and had 15 steals to go with it, led by Ray Allen with 4.

Their defense was particularly suffocating in the second and fourth quarters allowing only 11 and 15 pts respectively.

Doc Rivers…

“Defensively, I thought we were terrific all night, except for the first four or five minutes of the game. And that’s what kept us in this game tonight.”

Nets Coach Lawrence Frank….

“They collapse the paint. They keep on coming, but that paint has some 4 bodies in it so our guys moved the ball, but we just had a hard time making shots and sometimes that breaks your will.”

That’s the second opponent (Carmelo Anthony) to mention 4 bodies guarding the paint this year. The Celtics outscored New Jersey in the paint tonight by 38-22.

The Celtics began passing the ball more in the second half to break open the defense and get their offense going.

Eventually the Celtics wore down their opponent and again won going away.

Miami comes to Boston for a Friday night match.

Boxscore

The imperfect, perfect run out if the gate for the Celtics continues, as they once again decisively beat their opponent. This time it is an old friend, former Celtic coach, Jim O’Brien, and his new team, the Indiana Pacers. The final score was 101-86, keeping true to both their offensive and defensive early season hallmarks.

Paul Pierce fueled the run out with a late 2nd period explosion, logging 21 points by half time. It was the 3rd straight game Paul Pierce has had at least 19 points by half time.

After absorbing opponents emotional opening outbursts for the first 12 minutes, the Celtics have regularly made their move in the 2nd quarter, knocking opponents down and pretty much out by half time. Rarely has a team ever regained the lead, even briefly, in the final 24 minutes. This team knows how to get you down and keep you down. Often teams have mentally surrendered before the third period is over.

Last night was no exception. The Pacer’s played a nice 1st quarter, leading for much of it, and being down only 26-24 by its end. Larry Bird’s new look, but same players Pacers were led by young, up and coming Danny Granger’s 8 points. Jamal Tinsley got by Rajon Rondo twice for lay-ups, causing the early entry of Eddie House. Did I just say that House was replacing Rondo for….. defense? I think the earth just tilted a little bit. Rondo answered Tinsley with 2 quick jumpers himself before he could be replaced by House with a break in the action.

The Pacers stayed with the Cs throughout much of the 2nd quarter as well, in spite of a barrage of foul calls against their bigs, landing O’Neal, Harrison, Granger in foul trouble with 3 each, and Shawne Williams ending up with 4 trying to guard Paul Pierce during a 17 point 2nd quarter outburst. Fouls have plagued this Pacer team all season.

Paul Pierce gave the Celtics the lead for good, 40-38 with 2 free throws at the 3:06 mark of the period. This was after a hard foul by Jamal Tinsley. Paul thought it was a flagrant.

Doc Rivers, “They lit a fire under Paul.” Coach Rivers said he decided to ride the moment and run iso’s for Pierce. Paul followed the foul shots with a loud dunk and was off on a 13 point barrage (of the Celtics final 14 points) in the final 3 minutes to send them to the locker room up 9 points.

The difficulty of playing these Celtics is that you can’t concentrate on just one or two of them. They will wait their turn. Ray Allen took over in the 3rd period with 15 points, as the Celtics built a 16 point lead.

Kevin Garnett was solid throughout, continuing his double double streak (18 pts., 11 bds.) and added 3 steals, 2 assts., and 2 blocks.

Pierce led the team with 31 points (on 8-17 shooting) and 6 assists to go along with 14-14 from the free throw line, 2 steals and a block.

The Celtics stole the ball 12 times last night. The Celtics lead the league in steals at 11 per. Yet, they are doing it mostly within a solid defensive context, as indicated by their other defensive stats, 39.7 FG% against (1st in league) , and 90.2 pts (4th in league).

Role players continue to produce as Brian Scalabrine had 9 points in 12 minutes, James Posey had 6 and Scot Pollard scored his first basket of the year and had 5 points on the night.

Rajon Rondo finished with 5 rebounds, 5 assists to go with a block of Jermaine O’Neal and 5 points for the game. He also had 4 TOs. Kendrick Perkins contributed ‘two’ – 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals and 5 points and 5 fouls in 21 minutes.

The Pacers did live up to their Jim O’Brien inspired defensive reputation, holding the Celtics well below their season average of 52% shooting at .425% and only 6-21 (.286%) from downtown. The Celtics also lost the rebound battle 47-42, for the first time (Toronto tied at 42) this year.

Danny Granger led the Pacers with 24 points on 8-10 shooting, a remarkable stat as the Celtics held the Pacers to 35% shooting overall and caused 23 Pacer turnovers. The Pacers drop to 3-4 after starting the season 3-0.

The Celtics are home tonight in a rematch against the New Jersey Nets. It is a back-to-back for the Cs while the Nets are rested. Will the Cs prevail with home cooking? I’ll be there to give you a full report.

On a side note:

Brandon Wallace, a 6′ 9″ SF was sent to the Celtics’ D-league team, the Utah Flash, for real playing time. He was the 4th NBA player sent to the Development League so far. Brandon is a project and experiment as a tall, defensive small forward for the Celtics. He played center in college, but seems most suited to the 3 in the pros, according to Doc.

“Grow begins when we start to accept our own weaknesses.”Jean Vanier

The Celtics have blasted their way to the front of the NBA and the front of the sports pages.

Even before they played a game, the new players were appearing on the covers of every national sports magazine and NBA basketball got a shot in the arm that it really needed.

The low Finals ratings of last season, the negative off court escapades of some of its highest profile players, followed by the explosive revelation that an NBA referee was involved with the mob were cause for concern in many corners of the NBA world. The owners are greedy. The players are greedy. Refs are tarnished.

The fans pay the freight for every fantastic dunk and for every uninspired player who just got his long term contract. They pay for all of it. The money they spend for hot dogs, beer, jerseys, caps and shoes for their feet, foot the bill for the entire 30 team operation. They are a very loyal and forgiving bunch for the most part.

While some were predicting the end of the world for the professional version of this great sport, others would blithely poo-poo just about anything that happened, short of teams closing shop for good.

The new look Celtics have verily exploded from the gate, going from 0-60 at 3.6 seconds, just like the Ferrari they have been compared to. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are everything they have been advertised as…and more. The Celtics are turbine powered, while the rest of the league is driven by old fashioned, high priced, inefficient gas powered engines.

What is lost in covering the redemption of the NBA through Boston’s shooting stars, is their coach, Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers.

After 3 seasons of increasing youth and decreasing wins, culminating in a 24 win, 2nd to last place finish that included a franchise high 18 game losing streak, Doc was under heavy fire from the fans. Call it a bombardment – carpet bombing even. Every little thing was directly or indirectly linked to Doc Rivers. To be sure, his brother in current Celtic architecture, Danny Ainge was coming under increasing fire. The funny thing is that many fans loved the young players.

No matter how many games they lost, plays that were not followed, defensive assignments missed, inconsistent performances, important shots missed, calls they didn’t get because they were league nobodies, it was largely Doc’s fault, not the players.

Just as Paul Pierce was the hot button the year before, any Celtic message board debate could go on for pages and multiple threads, simply with the mention of Doc Rivers. Blood pressure would rise, blood would boil, curse words would be bleeped. Just say out loud… “Doc Rivers”, and veins would pop. Few were the defenders, and they would be beaten down in short order by the sheer number of fans who had grown impatient with the state of the team. To be sure, Doc wasn’t the only the problem, but he was looked at as the biggest one.

Personally, I have found myself stuck in a strange middle ground on Doc Rivers. I am Sweden in World War II. Any judgement I wanted to make about him, and most of the time I wanted to go negative on Doc, I just couldn’t condemn the man in toto. Crushing this man in condemnation for the plight of the Celtics just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t do it. There is a basic decency about this man that is undeniable.

No matter how incompetent the Celtics became, and how obvious some of Doc’s weaknesses appeared, there were ‘extenuating circumstances’, as they say.

Before the recent Atlanta Hawks game, I was standing right there in the crowd of reporters surrounding Paul Pierce, in the Celtic locker room, when Paul was asked if he saw a comparison of last year’s Celtic team to this Hawks team. He ‘got’ what the question was implying.

With just a short pause, he raised his eyebrows and said something like, “I’m not sure it’s similar. Remember, that Hawks team has a number of lottery picks on it.”

That observation is missed on many. It is an important distinction.

The Celtics had a #15 (Al Jefferson) and #18 (Gerald Green) pick that many were miraculously hoping would be impacting the game like top 5 picks. They were surrounded by other astute late 1st round and very smart 2nd round choices. But there was no Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Elton Brand, Tyson Chandler, Eddie Curry, Chris Paul, or Deron Williams on the team.

There wasn’t a Marvin Williams, Sheldon Williams (which could have been Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, or Randy Foye), or Josh Childress (could have had Deng or Iguodala) as there are on the Hawks. A Hawks team, by the way, that won exactly 30 games itself last season – 6 more than the futile Celtics.

3 lottery picks vs no lottery picks. I think that distinction is missed on many.

Doc knows he is not a perfect coach. He said himself, he works each year to become better at his job.

The addition of Tom Thibodeau is an admittance of that, of sorts. While offense has been reasonably good, defense has been a problem for Doc Rivers teams here.

Doc is known as a ‘players coach’. Some would say that is code for soft. It also suggests that he isn’t in control of any team stars. NBA stars have a lot of power these days. This isn’t your father’s NBA. He had just Paul Pierce. Now he has Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

Doc said the team is playing so well simply because the three stars like each other. They are willing to share the limelight and the ball. It’s nothing special that he or the coaches are doing.

That is exactly what a coach should be doing – focusing on the players when they win. Red Auerbach himself said the game is about the players. Yet, Red would take blame for losses. We have to remember that Red had very few losses though.

Doc has had some reknowned,…uhmm…. ‘independent’…. personalities on his Celtic teams in Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, Ricky Davis, Gary Payton, Mark Blount, and Marcus Banks. Danny has moved all of them, save Pierce, in an effort to get Doc a team he can coach without a lot of other distractions to worry about. At the same time, he went younger and younger. Not because he wanted to, but because that was the only kind of talent he could acquire.

The last two years, the losses piled up. There is one thing about all of the Doc Rivers Celtic teams that I know. They have never quit on him in games, which means they haven’t quit on him personally. Last year would have been the year to do it.

Through all of the adversity last year, I watched game after game of the big dog knocking aside the little dog (the Celtics) and going along it’s merry way, only to find that little dog biting at it’s heals as the game wound down. Often the other teams’ starters would have to go back into the game to finish off a team that kept playing hard. Annoying….is what the Celtics were. You knew they would lose, but they didn’t give up. They simply didn’t know how to win.

I tried to think of what coach I could compare Doc Rivers to. Bill Fitch? Not likely. Lenny Wilkens? Possibly. Lenny was players’ coach and a teacher. Doc certainly has been a teacher these last few years.

I don’t know of any coach in NBA history that has gone through such an extreme change of team talent in one year.

When you have enormous talent as these Celtics now have, is Doc simply smart enough to not get in these players’ way as is suggested about Joe Torre, and more close to home, as K.C. Jones was?

Or is Doc quietly able to use his strengths to form the framework with which this team competes? Doc has just lost his father. He returned the very day of the funeral to coach the team against the Nets. Danny made it clear he was not expected to. When the team saw him come into the room an hour before game time, they were all lifted up. Kevin Garnett says that when a person gives all of himself as Doc does, he would die for him. Kevin is a serious man. He wouldn’t say something like without a strong affection for the man.

It is a players game. But if that is true, then how could Doc get the blame for the last few years of babysitting and teaching good players, but not game changing talent? So if Doc gets blame for the last few years, and I think he shoulders some of it for his game management, and other debateable decisions, he also gets some credit this year for knowing what to do know with a completely different roster of star powered veterans, even if it is just to make a clever game plan and let the players do the rest.

In truth, in years past, he tried to give players freedom on the court that they didn’t know what to do with. He allowed them and encouraged them to make on court decisions that they were not up to. He said you need a high basketball IQ for his system. I don’t want to see last year’s team IQ. It might require a special education class. A controlling Rick Carlisle, he is not. His coaching philosophy makes more sense for a veteran team of talented players. They know what do to when they have choices. They will make the right decisions far more than not.

He is on a short contract. He knows what is expected, and that is immediate success. The team’s 5-0 start is delivering that in spades. Somehow, I feel he is more a part of the early
success than simply letting the players play. But some say that is even intentional.

The ‘Get Rid of Doc Brigade’ is at bay now. There are a few tremors about him playing the stars too long. They will grow louder as the year wears on. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. To finish strong, Doc must find a way to win games and still rest his starters. The play-off performance will be far more important than the won/loss record during the year.

Still, I find this sprint from the gate to have immediate advantages. It solidifies the culture of winning. It sets up an intimidation factor in opponents minds and hearts. It proves to the three stars that they can do what they thought they might. It shows what can happen when three stars decide to share the ball and play defense. So far, Doc’s team is more prepared than his counterpart’s each night.

If this team stumbled out of the gate, the cry for Doc’s head would have been a roar. The quick start has simply made Doc Rivers a non-story. I’m sure Doc would like to be a non story all season long. That would mean he is doing his job and the team is contending. That is all he asked for. The successful story would be – ‘Doc Rivers the Un-story.’ That would mean that the Celtics are doing quite well indeed.

Doc wouldn’t have it any other way.