Celtics Central

Both teams were supposed to be handicapped. Suns are without Amar’e Stoudamire, Celtics are without Kevin Garnett. Call it a push.

After three straight 140 point games against two of the worst defending teams in the NBA, the Alvin Gentry coached Suns met up with the Garnett-less Celtic team. The current Defensive Player of the Year is out for 2-3 weeks. His missing 6′ 11″ body will impact the Celtic team defense.

The Celtic strategy? Out score the buzzards.

In a sinus clearing game, the Suns blew by the Celtics early and often, but the Celtics’ cleared the air with their own offensive explosion led by Rajon Rondo. The Cs gave the Suns just enough congestion to lock up a 20 point win. It was their highest scoring game of the year.

With Kevin Garnett out, Rajon Rondo stepped up and joined Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to score 89 of the team’s points, outplaying the Suns at their own game: scoring. In so doing, the Celtics re-exposed the ‘new’ Suns ‘old’ problem – defense.

Rondo Career High
Rajon Rondo must have given Steve Nash a cold with the constant breeze Nash felt as Rondo blew by him. Rajon carved up the Suns’ defense with a parade of acrobatic drives to the hoop for a career high 32 points. Along the way he threw in a 3 point shot and a couple of jumpers.

Rajon had 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting in just the first half of a dominating exhibition. In a busy game for Rajon, he added 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 5 turnovers. Oh yeah, it was Rondo’s 23rd birthday to boot.

Ray Allen Sets Foul Shot Record
Ray Allen backed that up with 21 first half points on 7 of 9 shooting. Ray broke Larry Bird’s Celtic record of 71 straight foul shots by one, before missing and finishing 7 of 8 from the line.

Employing a smart strategy, this was Rondo at his best. We now know emphatically that Steve Nash can’t guard Rondo. The Suns’ problem is that no one else stepped up to help.

That virus was a bit contagious, spreading to the Celtics team. Perkins, Davis and Scalabrine were sometimes late on the help defense on penetration. Mostly, it was about transition defense as the Suns scored an eye opening 60 points in the paint. Steve Nash distributed 11 assists to go with 19 points on 8 of 20 shooting.

In light of the absence of KG and the final results, it was all quite acceptable.

Scalabrine, Davis, Powe Step Up
Brian Scalabrine started in place of Garnett and had his highest scoring game of the year with 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Glen Davis added 10 points on a perfect 4 for 4 shooting, while stroking 3 jump shots. Leon Powe added 5 points and 6 rebounds in 14 minutes.

The Phoenix Flyers scored often and early, but ended up not keeping up with the Celtics. As was the problem with this style previously, the lack of defensive effort catches up with you. The Suns showed why they are a more potent offensive unit at breakneck speed, by going up 14-6 in the first 3.5 minutes of the game.

While the Suns ran to 33 first quarter points, the Celtics, behind Rondo and Ray Allen, shot a ridiculous .816 on 13 of 16 shooting for 38 points to grab the lead they would never relinquish and would eventually run up to 22 points.

By half time the Celtics were up 68-54. The Suns made numerous pushes in the second half, after the Celtics went up 21 points at 80-59. They got within 9 before the third quarter ended at 83-92 on a Matt Barnes 3 point shot. The Suns closed to within 9 again at 11:02 of the fourth at 87-96 on a Jason Richardson three pointer.

From there the Celtics went on a 12-1 run to finally put the game out of reach behind 9 points by Pierce and Allen. Paul Pierce became the offensive focus in the second half, scoring 18 points to complement the fine first half by Rondo and Ray.

The Numbers
Rajon Rondo had 32 points.
Ray Allen had 31 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists.
Perkins, Rondo and Powe shot just 7 of 18 from the foul line combined.
Paul Pierce finished with 26 points, including 10 of 10 from the line, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers.
Kendrick Perkins played just 18 minutes, scoring 5 points with 6 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.
The Celtics, one of the league’s worse teams with turnovers, had 19 in the game.

Unusual Stats of the Game
Eddie House grabbed 6 rebounds in 14 minutes.
The Celtics shot a blistering .639 for the game, on 46 of 72 shooting.
The Celtics outrebounded the Suns 40-26.

Summary
The Celtics were up for this game, and it was an exciting one to watch for Celtic fans. The Cs took such advantage of a porous Sun defense, hitting a high percentage of their shots, that the Suns running game was neutralized enough to gain a big lead. The Celtics then withstood a few Sun rallys to win going away.

Those stretch marks you see are Rondo’s game growing again. On his 23rd birthday, Rondo displayed all of his amazing rim attacking talent, while still maintaining the responsibility of running the team efficiently. He even snuck one in around ubiquitous rim policeman, Shaquille O’Neal.

Ray Allen continues to excel in shot making and after a 1-8 first half, Paul Pierce got in the groove to reinforce the ‘Ray and Rajon’ assault to close the Suns out.

82games.com just did a 20 year lookback on the entire NBA draft and came up with some interesting things and rated each team.

The whole piece is here, but to spill the beans, the best team wasn’t Boston. It is (drum roll)…..

the Milwaukee Bucks.

Yeah, I was surprised, too. They devised a rating system based on the place a player was drafted when compared with a simple statistical average for that draft spot:

Player Rating = points/game + rebounds/game + assists/game

This rating was career stat based and weighted as to over or under achieving in relation to the statistical average for the draft spot they were drafted at. The higher over the average for that spot, the better the team was rated for each player.

The Boston Celtics came out 7th best. They have drafted 6 stars, 6 solid players and 5 role players over 20 years. That is not to say that they shouldn’t have traded a few like Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson. With different regimes during that time period, that isn’t too bad.

I’d like to see a Danny Ainge regime breakdown and compare it to other current GMs. I bet the Celtics move up the list.

Of note, the New York Knicks came out dead last since 1989. They futility has gone on for quite a while, it seems. They have drafted zero stars, 4 solid players, 8 role players since 1989. The performance of their picks compared to other players picked at the same spot was dismal…and tied for last with Atlanta.

The teams that were rated ahead of the Celtics were (in order):

1) Milwaukee
2) Phoenix
3) L.A. Lakers
4) San Antonio
5) Cleveland
6) Golden State
7) Boston

Golden State is another surprise, but don’t forget this a 20 year look back.

* On account of this, one additional point to mention is in the event of draft day trades, the team winding up with a player after the trade is counted as ‘drafting’ the player.

I didn’t want to get into this too deeply here. And bear in mind, numerous players have changed teams. But I thought you might like to see it.

Kevin Garnett injured his right knee in the second quarter of the loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday.

Unconfirmed reports say he may be out for a month. He was sent back to Boston for an MRI and will definitely miss the last three games of the road trip.

That will increase Brian Scalabrine and Glen Davis’ minutes and importance. Leon Powe may get more time at power forward as well.

It is important that all three of these players improve their production going forward and the stretch of games could help in doing that. So there may be a silver lining in the KG injury if it isn’t too serious. If he is out for a month, that would pose more of a challenge.

KG was said to have been having trouble with that knee for a few weeks prior.

A longer time of healing would place more responsibility on Ray Allen and Paul Pierce for everything, most likely increasing their minutes and certainly their game requirements such as helping out rebounding.

Andres Nocioni, Mikki Moore, Joe Smith, and Raja Bell have all been mentioned as Celtic targets.

Lots of players have already changed teams.

Check Hoopshype.com for a rundown of what has been happening.

When the dust settles, I’ll make some comments.

Oklahoma City Thunder rescinded the Tyson Chandler trade due to turf toe. Now Joe Smith wants a buy out to become a Celtic.

Here is Yahoo Sports on the reason for rescinding…..

The weight of the trade, four league officials said, rested on Chandler’s left big toe. During Chandler’s physical, the Hornets’ medical staff, in consultation with outside doctors, raised concerns about a lingering turf-toe condition.

“It’s not going to end his career,” one source familiar with Chandler’s medical history said, “but it could hinder it.”

Chandler had surgery on it previously, but apparently its effects linger. I don’t think that losing Joe Smith was a big issue to the Thunder, but Chris Wilcox is still a young player.

More important, Joe Smith has since let it be known that he would now like a buy out from the Thunder in order to pursue employment with the Boston Celtics. That comes as great news to Celtic fans, but remains to be seen if the Oklahoma City franchise will accomodate.

Here is Chris Sheridan on ESPN…

Chris Sheridan: A source who has been in the know for years tells me that Joe Smith is keeping his fingers crossed that the Thunder do not find another trade for him now that he’s back in Oklahoma City.

Smith, the source said, would like to do a buyout and then sign with the Boston Celtics as this season’s version of P.J. Brown.

There is also a chance of Stephon Marbury being bought out in time to sign with the Celtics. In light of the Tony Allen injury, this event would likely mean Marbury becomes a Celtic. I see no reason why the Knicks would do this, except professional courtesy. That is one thing that has been lacking in the whole Knick/Marbury story for quite a while.

Trade Possibilities for Knicks and Nets
The Knicks have received offers for David Lee, but Donnie Walsh wants teams to take Michael Curry’s contract with him to do a deal. That isn’t going to happen.

There is a serious chance that the Nets may trade Vince Carter before the day is out. Portland is a likely destination if the Blazers don’t acquire Richard Jefferson from the Bucks instead. It is perhaps 50/50 that nothing gets done and Carter stays.

Any Celtic acquisitions will happen after the trade deadline at 3:00 today, and could take a week to do them. They must be done by March 1st, in order to have the acquired player(s) be eligible to play in the play-offs.

Doc Rivers in Frank Dell’Apa and Marc J. Spears’ article in the Globe….

“As far as depth on the bench, Tony might have been the one guy you couldn’t lose, and we lost him,” said Rivers. “Now, we’re really hoping Scal can come back. If he can’t come back right away, then we’re in a mess, no doubt.”

Tony Allen’s potentially regular season ending thumb injury, sustained in practice, coupled with the trade of Sam Cassell definitely causes problems for the team going forward.

The main problem is a defending small forward off the bench to spell Paul Pierce and handle the top scoring swingman they encounter.

Brian Scalabrine will try to recover from two concussions and could fill the small forward role for short minutes against some opponents. He has really created a role for himself as an energy back-up power forward and center this season. If Brian can do it, it wil just show the versatility of the often maligned Celtic role player.

Barring another deal, Gabe Pruitt gets his chance for meaningful minutes from here on out. He has displayed enough skill and ability to have hope that he will become more consistent with more consistent playing time. Playing with the frontline players won’t hurt.

This highly conditional endorsement from Danny Ainge, in the same Globe article, is less than encouraging…

“Gabe has been getting more time and playing well,” Ainge said. “In some ways, he’s our best perimeter defender, against some guys. He doesn’t deal with the big, strong body of some guys. We definitely thought he could be a great defender. He’s long and athletic and has great speed.

“He hasn’t always been a great defender, but he has the potential to be.”

The wild card in all this is rookie Bill Walker. I recently said that Walker would be an unlikely option. But that was before Tony’s injury and Brain Scalabrine’s situation became so uncertain.

So…..

If it comes to Bill Walker being used, and he steps up as all hope he would, then Danny’s genius level goes up. If Walker is asked to step in and doesn’t pass muster, then second guessing about letting Darius Miles go will see sunshine (or …start to rain)

Suddenly, non-rotation players like Gabe Pruitt, and more so, little used Bill Walker, enter the picture for this team’s success this season.

Yet, Walker is intriguing. He has shown a well needed aggressiveness during his playing time. He would actually have to back off that a little bit, to reduce his fouling somewhat, and play an important factor at both ends of the floor.

All eyes will be on Danny in the next week or so.

There goes the ‘Joe Smith as a Celtic’ idea.

In an effort to save luxury tax money next year, The New Orleans Hornets appear to be throwing in the towel for title contention this season.

They traded their only legitimate center, 7’1″ Tyson Chandler to the Thunder for the expiring contracts of PF Joe Smith and PF Chris Wilcox, saving themselves almost $12 million next season.

Here is the lowdown from Marc Stein of ESPN….

With a payroll at nearly $67 million this season and scheduled to reach almost $77 million next season, New Orleans felt it had to part with Chandler before Thursday’s 3 p.m. trading deadline regardless, even though dealing away the 26-year-old almost certainly takes the Hornets out of serious playoff contention in the West.

The Hornets were widely projected as a dark-horse title contender entering the season but hit the All-Star break as the No. 6 team in the West at 30-20 after a variety of injuries and struggles to cope with raised expectations. Chandler has been bothered all season by foot troubles and is averaging just 8.8 points and 8.3 rebounds, compared to 11.8 points and 11.7 rebounds last season.

That means the Celtics will look elsewhere for help.

Stayed tuned.

One of my all time favorite players is no longer a Celtic.

Sam Cassell received his third championship ring for a mere 17 games and some up and down play-off action that did, in fact, help the Celtics achieve their goal.

The deal isn’t quite finished but, the Boston Celtics have agreed to send unused point guard Sam Cassell to the Sacramento Kings for…get this…..a “highly protected” second round draft pick and cash considerations.

They will give the Kings aproximately $500,000, which will cover the remaining part of this year’s $1.2 million salary.

The phrase ‘highly protected’ and ‘second round draft pick’ have never been used together before. Protected – yes. Highly protected? – no. Usually only first round picks are protected. I think the Celtics get the pick if the Kings pick 59th or 60th in the year 2020 (I’m kidding…I think.)

The main thing about this move is that the Celtics are obviously getting ready to do another deal. They needed roster space and this gives it to them.

What that deal will be… no one knows. Danny has been good in the past about not tipping his hand. Joe Smith is the obvious hope of Celtic Nation. What is unclear is whether a trade is coming or Danny will wait until someone is waived after the February 19th trade deadline and swoop in.

If a trade is at hand, expect Tony Allen or possibly Brian Scalabrine to be the most likely candidates to leave, with other possibilities being Gabe Pruitt, J.R. Giddens, or even Glen Davis being part of a combo deal.

OKC Thunder Players Available
Besides Joe Smith, the Thunder have PF Chris Wilcox, and PG Earl Watson available. While neither player have been in Celtic rumors, either one could help the Celtics. Nick Collison from the same team would be an even better player to hope for, but again not likely to become a Celtic.

We will watch this going forward. Stay tuned.