Celtics Central

It was insanity in the Garden. Call it the crooked comeback.

The Celtics played as poorly as they could for 27 minutes and still almost won this game. They were down 28 points and closed to within 3 points in the final seconds.

I don’t know what to say. There was inspiration galore. There was missed opportunity aplenty. If the Celtics could make a lay up, they would have won the game. If they made a few more passes they could have won a game they had no business winning. If.

The out-of-sync, nearly dead Boston Celtics almost came back from 28 points down with 9 minutes left in the third quarter to beat the dazed, inept Orlando Magic. Almost.

Remember Wiliam Huang’s performance of American Idol fame? She bangs. They were that bad. With ‘no professional training’ they nearly banged out a ‘W’.

As lethargic as the Celtics were through the 9 minute mark, so were the Magic the rest of the way. After Glen Davis missed a lay up, J.J. Redick hit a three to make the score 65-37 with 8:58 left in the third.

The Celtics slowly morphed from uncoordinated William Huang to a crusty, battle hardened, ‘Band of Brothers’ of Boston to outscore the Magic 53-25 the rest of the way.

The Celtics started to resusitate, hoping to erase a completely disjointed effort to that point. They were without energy, had no timing and little idea of how to change it all. Glen Davis and Stephon Marbury were the leading scorers at the half for the Cs with 8 points each. That ought to tell you how messed up Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce were.

Pierce, Allen and Rondo were 5 for 22 shooting at the half for 11 combined points. The Celtics had shot zero foul shot attempts at the break because they were all settling for jump shots. Afraid of Dwight Howard and his two blocks? Who knows. It didn’t matter.

The Climb Back Up
The Celtics did it with a Rajon Rondo flurry of foul shots. They did it with a Brian Scalabrine three. They did it with defense. They did it with Paul Pierce hitting just enough shots to bring the Cs to the brink. He had 17 points in the second half including a huge three pointer that finally got the Celtics past a 9 point deficit they seemed like they would never breach.

They missed lay-ups and had silly turnovers when they got within striking distance at 9 points down. Rajon Rondo and Brain Scalabrine turned the ball over in the paint on consecutive plays. Then Ray Allen and Paul Pierce missed consecutive lay-ups right after. Pierce appeared to be fouled by Howard but got no call.

But after no foul shots in the first half, the Celtics, led by Rondo, finally started attacking the basket to close a huge deficit that no one in the world thought they would close. Because no one seemed like they could hit a shot, they did it by going to the basket and then to the line…..26 times in that half.

Rondo was 10 for 12 from the line and nearly had his most difficult triple double yet. Though he shot 2 for 12, Rondo finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 7 turnovers and 3 steals.

After Pierce’s three pointer on the move made it 89-83 with2:42 left, Glen Davis made a huge driving reverse lay-up to get within 89-85. After a Rafer Alston lay-up, Pierce hit two foul shots but Rondo had his 7th turnover on a pass. Ray Allen almost rattled a three in. Pierce missed another lay-up.

Redick hit four straight free throws, around a Pierce desperation three pointer with 6.6 seconds left to give the Magic the winning margin.

Pierce played a gutsy game again, though he continues to miss shots that he normally makes with his eyes closed. He led the Celtics with 23 points on 7 of 18 shooting.

Glen Davis played a decent game with 12 points on 6 of 10 shooting, though Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 18 points. Davis fouled out with 5 boards, a few charges drawn, a steal and a block.

The Magic did a great job on Ray Allen, holding him to 9 pts. on 2 of 12 shooting, which is to say that they ran him off the three point line and the Celtics didn’t do a good job of getting him open.

Kendrick Perkins did a credible job with 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, but just 6 points.

The Bench
Brain Scalabrine had another big contribution with 10 points and solid defense in 26 minutes. Stephon Marbury finally broke out with an 8 point explosion in the first half on 4-4 shooting. Eddie House hit for 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Tony Allen made a 4 minute appearance.

In the end, it was the Magic who should be embarassed. They played poorly while the Celtics played some solid harassing defense to crawl back into the game. Still, the Magic eeked out a win in Boston and are up 1-0, putting them in the drivers seat for the series.

Michael Pietrus was the difference for the Magic. He made a number of clutch shots and finished with 17 points. Dwight Howard had a big game with 22 rebounds, 19 points, and 3 blocks but was blocked 4 times himself.

The Celtics made a game of it though they couldn’t shoot straight, finishing at .385 to the Magic’s .432. Boston held Orlando to .35% shooting in the second half.

You would think that Boston gains confidence from this. But the fact that they are undermanned doesn’t work in their favor going forward. Yet…..heroic efforts never seem to be in short supply in the Celtic dressing room.

Next game: Wednesday night in Boston

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“Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” (Art Buchwald)

With but a single day’s rest after the ‘buckets of blood’ playoff round against the ummm …oh yeah…Chicago Bulls, the Celtics start all over again on their home court against the Dwight Howard led Magic.

Round Two of the Eastern Conference Playoffs begins this evening as the Goliath led Philistine Orlando Magic march on Beantown after subduing the turmoil laden Philadelphia 76ers.

The Celtics lost the last two times they played Orlando. Once was without KG, the other he played 16 minutes in the game that his knee went ka-put for the season. He hasn’t played since.

The Celtics, the highest scoring team in the playoffs, will create a few nightmare match ups for the Magic. J.J. Redick on Ray Allen? I’ve read that J.J. actually played some defense in the 76ers series. Staying with Ray Allen? I won’t say never. But I’ll think it.

Paul Pierce gets his points (23.3) against the Magic, but Hedo Turkoglu’s length can cause Pierce problems at both ends of the court. The Truth shot 2 for 11 (.182%) from the three point arc against the Magic this season. Warning: Pierce is most likely nursing an injury or two, but has been keeping it a state secret.

Skip to My Lou vs. Johnny Rondo
Rafer Alston on Rajon Rondo? This is another no contest IF…..Rajon is sufficiently healed of his ankle problems. Warning: Rajon was clearly not the same player the last two games as he was earlier in the Bulls series. As JB of Celtics Stuff Live has recently pointed out, Rajon has no lift left. He is 6-25 shooting from the field and scored just 15 points combined in those games.

Courney Lee the Magic’s under rated rookie shooting guard had quietly put together a highly respectable season. He’s been even better in the post season. He will miss at least the first two games with injury thanks being accidentally clobbered by his own team mate, Dwight Howard.

All expectations are that the Celtics will have trouble with one match up in particular. Rashard Lewis vs, Glen Davis.

Goliath
First, Dwight Howard is a match up problem for every team. But the Celtics handled him well in the past, when Kendrick Perkins could exercise his 5 fouls with the luxury of Glen Davis as his back up center and Kevin Garnett wasn’t wearing suits.

Howard could be a big problem with no Davis or Leon Powe backing up Perkins. Kendrick has to play his usual good defense without getting in foul trouble. As Brian Scalabrine said himself after the last time Doc asked him to play center, “I’m not a center.” Howard had a 20 point 20 rebound game the last time these teams played.

Rashard vs. Big Baby
With KG out, Lewis shapes up as a nightmare cover for Big Baby. Rashard is an accomplished player, has height (a long 6′ 10″), shoots three pointers like layups, and is as prolific as Ray Allen from out there. He can also take it to the hoop.

The major dilemma is that he can beat Davis off the dribble if Glen truly tries to stay with him at the arc to prevent the three. If you give Lewis just a little daylight, you’ve got trouble. Glen has to pretty much concede either the three or the drive. It also pulls Glen away from the hoop. Pick your poison.

Not as bad as it seems?
Even Doc Rivers has called that match up as ‘unfair’ for Davis. The overall numbers don’t necessarily reflect that, though. Lewis did have an efficient 21 points on ten shots in 38 minutes in that last game against the Cs. He had only 15 points in the game before. But Davis played only 18:37 minutes in that one. Leon Powe played 30 minutes that same game. Powe is out for the year with injury.

The biggest thing is for Davis to find him early in transition. Glen, at times, had problems with that in the last series. The Celtics play a pretty fair half court D.

The other problem that creates is that the Cs will have to double down on Howard with a smaller player to help Perkins.

What to do?

Well here are a few ideas:
1) Play a sort of zone on Lewis or automatic switching defense.
a) You can have a somewhat smaller player play up on Lewis when he’s setting up outside. Then let the bigs take care of any hoop attacks.
2) Put Ray Allen or Paul Pierce (more likely) on him and see how that works. Either should be mobile enough to stay close to him.
3) Try Scalabrine, though I think Lewis is too quick for Scal, too. Perhaps Scal can chase him better.

Glen’s offense – The neutralizer
Glen’s offensive improvement should help negate any defensive liabilities in this match up. Davis has come on tremendously and is averaging 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and is second on the team in assists (18) at 2.6. He has a higher Player Efficiency Rating (16 PER) than Paul Pierce (14 PER).

Davis’ ability to hit the outside shot should pull Lewis away from the hoop.

Orlando’s players offer a very different set of skills and challenges than the Bulls. How long the proud but beleaguered Celtics can continue this run is a fun thing to watch. No doubt the Celtics won’t go down easily.

Life is the combined total of the choices you make. – Albert Camus

A lot may have to do with choices they make.

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”

Call it War…..and Peace.

Like some overly long novel that you are both glad and sad it’s over at the same, this 7 game test of extreme mental and physical determination has concluded. The Celtics have won the war. Their reward? One day rest and it starts all over again against the Orlando Magic tomorrow (Monday) night.

Paul Pierce….

Well, it’s similar to last year. I mean we never got a break in the playoff series last year. For me, I’d rather keep playing anyway. I think you get three, four days off and you kind of lose it a little bit. Hey, just like the regular season, you play every other game. Let’s keep it going.

Talk about the ultimate ‘gamer’. But last things first.

Brian Scalabrine had his best game of the series with 8 first half points, coming at a time when the Cs were struggling to score. According to Brian, upon conclusion of the epic series, this was a game that exhuded Celtic Pride….

We are the Boston Celtics. We need to establish a dominance whether Kevin plays, Kevin doesn’t play, Rajon’s out there in foul trouble, whatever. We are still the Boston Celtics, and we hang our hat on our defense and we hang our hat on the City of Boston. The sense of pride to defend your title is definitely there.

After suffering through 6 grueling games, the team started in a hole once again, going down 7 points before closing to 4 after one quarter. Someone needed to spark this indefatiguable team.

Eddie House lit the fire with defense, (yes defense and three steals) in the second quarter, then snuffed out the Bulls with a perfect 10 (points) in the fourth quarter. Instead of starting fires for the Bulls, Eddie was lighting them up. A much need game by someone other than the starting five was the critical difference in this game.

Doc Rivers…

The only talk I had with Eddie is… ‘your defense is not your offense. We need you to be a great defender.’ And Eddie tonight, defensively…he proved something we didn’t know: that he actually can be a damn good defender. Because he was terrific tonight, defensively, and then he made shots.

But by playing defense, it allowed us to keep him on the floor, and that was really important to us.

In fact, it was the ball game.

The Celtics’ bench scored 30 points in the game and helped hold Chicago to 11 second quarter points. Brian Scalabrine brought needed scoring (5 points), hope and relief in the first quarter.

The Celtic starters and bench played smothering defense, holding the Bulls to 3 of 14 shooting, while scoring 29 points of their own in the second period. They opened what seemed like a mountainous 14 point half time lead, 52-38, considering the closeness of this series. It would be enough, but just barely.

Let it be noted that the Bulls closed to within three points twice in the fourth quarter. The game’s outcome was still in doubt with 42.3 seconds left on a Brad Miller dunk off a Kirk Hinrich pass, 102-97.

The Celtics then scored on a Ray Allen fastbreak lay-up and foul shot. The Bulls then played the fouling game and Stephon Marbury and Eddie House combined for four straight free throws to ice the game.

Ray Allen led the team in scoring with 23 points, adding 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
Ray had 7 fourth quarter points to help hold off the never-say-die Bulls.

Paul Pierce supported with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks, in another gutsy performance by a guy who is keeping his hurts to himself.

Rajon Rondo, plagued by sore ankles, was also mum on his health status but added 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in another herculean effort. Rondo was knocked to the ground more than Ricky Hatton was by Manny Pacquiao on the same night and with fouls just as hard. But unlike Hatton, he kept getting up.

Bulls’ bad boy Brad Miller exacted a bit of revenge from Rondo’s hard smack on Miller’s face with a rake across the head of Rondo on a lay up attempt. Joakim Noah laid out Rondo before that with a hard two hand pull down on another layup attempt. Both times Rondo laid there for a good while before getting up. He made the standing eight count every time he was delivered hard to the floor.

Kendrick Perkins gutted his way to 14 points and 13 rebounds (5 offensive), while Glen Davis added 15 points. Did Kendrick get a new respect for Joakim Noah?

I did. I didn’t really respect him before. Now I do. He can be a good center in this league. But I think he has a new respect for me, too.

But it was the bench that made the difference. Scalabrine made two big threes, Eddie House shot a perfect 5-5 from the floor, with 4-4 from the three point arc (16 points), Stephon Marbury ran a solid offense and Mikki Moore added 4 points in under 3 minutes.

Bruised, battered, but never beaten, an unsolvable series came to a fitting end for the aching, tired Celtics. The Orlando Magic arrive on Monday…to do it all again.

As Paul Pierce says…”let’s keep it going.”

“I’m delighted that the future is unsure. That is the way it should be.” William Sloane Coffin

The difference between the two locker rooms before the game was striking. The Bulls players were all present and ready for questions. Without playing a minute, Lindsay Hunter was already fulfilling a vital role in the Bulls locker room.

As us media geeks, packing our trusty digital recorders, pads, and pens, filed in and took our pregame ‘stance’ in the locker room, 15 year veteran Lindsay Hunter sat amused watching us ‘men in black’ survey the situation.

As is the normal course of events, we look unfocused, but we are sniffing the room for the hidden scent, and I don’t mean the smell of jockstraps, before honing in on a player to approach with questions. Is it tense? Is it easy going? Who looks willing to talk? Who avoids eye contact? Who do I really want for a quote?

That part is the amusing part to Lindsay. He gets a smile and, in a good natured way starts to have fun with the situation, saying, “Here they are again. Is anybody going to say anything?”

A bit of nervous laughter by we, the singled out geek patrol, as his team mates find amusement

“Ya’ll came in. What are you waiting for?”

Everyone laughs. One reporter offers, “We’re waiting for volunteers.” More laughs.

Lindsay gets his first and maybe only assist of the night. He keeps the room, and his team mates loose and relaxed before their biggest game of the year and perhaps biggest game of most of their careers.

We will see if it works. Tune in later.

I’ve read writer after writer try to describe this series. It’s hard to do.

By far, the most tightly contested series in NBA history, with four overtime games out of six. One game went two overtimes, game #5 went three grueling overtimes.

Neither club has shown any ability to separate itself from the other. All leads are lost, all deficits are recovered. There have been a huge amount of magnificent plays by both teams. There have been numerous blunders, missed shots and mistakes by both as well.

What is making the 41-41 Bulls play so well against the NBA champions?

1) Kevin Garnett – the defensive backbone of the Celtics, is a spectator.
That alone changes the Celtics significantly. They are mere mortals without him. No longer the intimidating team with two shot blockers on the court and the league’s best pick and roll defender, the Celtic’s defense is no longer scary good.

2) The bench disparity –
The Bulls first two players off the bench are far more effective than anyone the Celtics try to bring in for help. Brad Miller and Kirk Hinrich are both starters on most teams. Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore have been duds. Eddie House has not been able to get going and Doc hasn’t been able to leave the relief players on the court long enough to get comfortable. Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine just can’t do enough to help in big ways.

That means that the Celtics starters have to play ghastly amounts of minutes. They are the older team, but must pace themselves at times. No lead is safe, because of that.

Those are, by far, the two biggest reasons.

Add to that, a Paul Pierce that appears to be less than the Paul Pierce of last year’s playoff, and the absence of Leon Powe, and the Celtics are a good team and a dangerous team, but not a dominant one.

Like last year’s first round series, they let a mostly young, talented team gain confidence. This time by losing to them in the first game at home, no less.

The now classic series has had some fantastic performances. Derrick Rose’s 36 points in his first ever playoff game, Ben Gordon’s 42 points in game two, Ray Allen’s 51 points in game six will all stand out.

Rajon Rondo’s blitzkrieg triple double performances have solidified him as an elite point guard, amd legitimate star in the league.

Glen Davis’ emergence as a steady offensive player has not gone unnoticed. Kendrick Perkins’ vital defensive role, stepped up offensive game and huge 19 rebound performance will not be forgotten. Nor will his penchant for fouling.

Ray Allen’s clutch shooting three point has been series saving. Paul Pierce’s rises to brilliance have been far too infrequent.

The Bulls?

Joakim Noah has raised his game to another level. Derrick Rose is showing what a budding star looks like. John Salmons have played far better than I believed he could. Brad Miller has done what Brad Miller does – but as well as he has ever done it. Kirk Hinrich has earned my respect as a tough two way player. Thank goodness Tyrus Thomas still hasn’t figured things how best to be a great player. Ben Gordon has gutted out an inspirational final performance as a Bull, with a gimpy hamstring.

No matter what happens, the Bulls have already won. The question remains, can the same be said of the Celtics?

There are differing views on that. If you thought that the Celtics were Eastern Conference Title contenders even without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, then this a tougher series to swallow.

If you thought that this Celtic team is limping through the playoffs due to all its injuries, both known and unknown, and the bench players never were as good as Doc and others would have you believe, then this series isn’t as surprising.

Either way, it all comes to a finale tonight. One thing no one can say, is that they didn’t get their money’s worth. It has been exciting basketball, played extremely hard. For hardwood fanatics, you couldn’t ask for more. A series for the ages ends this evening.