This is a late recap of Saturday night’s game for a number of reasons. I wasn’t around and had technical difficulties recording. Luckily I was able to get it on the Sunday re-play. But, as the Celtics’ second straight loss, it bears commenting on.
Be Wary of Blaming This One On the Zebras
Though the fouls and free throw attempts were almost even, it would be inaccurate to say the game was called evenly throughout.
Rasheed Wallace was called for a phantom foul on a driving Pacer in the 3rd quarter and Kendrick Perkins (Perkins is challenging his) and Doc Rivers both got technical fouls in the 4th quarter. That is one of the Cs unwritten rules – no 4th quarter techs.
While foul calling, especially by Joey Crawford was difficult to deal with and the Celtics did seem to unravel after the techs, it wasn’t Crawford who beat the Celtics. They beat themselves, simply by not playing Celtic-like defense. They scored enough to win if they had.
When watching, I replayed a number of plays. But instead of using individual sequences, it is safe to make a few generalizations:
1) The Celtics didn’t have the needed energy – in spite of the rebounding advantage (43-34).
2) The defense was pretty uninspired as evidenced by
a) 27 fast break Indiana points
b) Indiana shooting 52% from the field
c) Indiana shooting 50% from the arc
3) The Celtics had more turnovers, 14 to 8, and the Pacers made better advantage, 17 to 9, in points scored.
That Dahntay Jones had such a great game (25 points) was largely due to poor defense. Even when Paul Pierce played up on him it wasn’t with much pressure. That Pierce didn’t respect Jones, with a career reputation as a poor shooter, was part of it, but so was the fact that Paul was playing with a slightly injured knee from the night before. Paul didn’t look all that mobile, though it is hard to tell with him sometimes. He covers injuries well.
But Jones is averaging 16 points a game this season – by far, a career high. He is the second leading scorer on the Pacer’s team, so it’s not really something to be surprised about. It looks like this is the year of ‘the defensive player going for Big O” is in, with defensive-minded Trevor Ariza doing much the same thing for Houston.
Trash Talk gets Jones’ Goat; Jones Gets Even
Jones, a player that has earn his NBA playing time as a defensive cog, and was a Celtic for the preseason the first year of the KG trade, said he was inspired by the first half trash talking by former play mates Kevin Garnett and Pierce. After starting off shooting just 1-6, he went 6 for 9 the rest of the way. Give him credit for responding. But if the Celtics can’t stop Dahntay Jones from scoring, then they have bigger problems than we could ever imagine.
Without playing all that well, Boston led 61-52 at the half. They were still up 76-70 with 4:03 left. That was when the floor caved in. The Pacers went on a14 to 3 run, with 8 unanswered points to end the quarter up by five 84-79.
From there, the Celtics made runs in the fourth period, taking back the lead at 88-86 on a Shelden Williams dunk off a Ray Allen assist. After the Pacers ran off 5 straight points, Williams made two free throws to get within one point at 91-90 with 8:16 left.
After another Jones jump shot, the Cs got within on again on two Daniels free throws before the Pacers made the two technical free throws sandwiched around a Dahntay Jones foul shot and jump shot to open up a 98-92 lead. The Celtics would get no closer than 4 points from there on. That seemed to do the Celtics in.
Kendrick Perkins from Boston.com and Gary Washburn….
“At the end of the day, they played harder than us,’’ he said about the Pacers. “I thought down the stretch we didn’t hold our composure as we should. We broke down in the end.
Summary
The Celtics finally rebounded well (43-34). Starting the game dead last in the NBA, they hit the offensive boards (14 to 6). They shot well enough (.476). So what was the problem?
Three games in four days?
Is age finally showing it self – especially in the second half of back-to-back games?
That is a comment that can get you excommunicated for from of the Church of the Green Jersey. Monsignor Rivers and the Church Elders don’t seem to appreciate talk like that.
But we are early in the season. Even a heavy early season stretch of games isn’t the sole reason for the unCeltic-like performances…is it?
Has defensive coach Tom Thibodeau gone on vacation and taken the plans with him?
Should they go back to being sleep deprived?
I think the Celtics need to re-think Rasheed Wallace’s role just a bit. I was hoping for more than a 6’ 11” three point shooter, as good as he may be at that. And he has always been streaky with that skill. Live by and die by it. The Celtics’ are too talented to be doing that.
Wallace played 19 minutes without a rebound. That just ain’t right.
The Offensive Numbers
The Celtics score 52 points in the paint to the Pacer’s 32. That is an amazing number, considering that the Pacers had 27 fast break points (which are almost always points in the paint). That means they were drilling jumpers for the rest of their 113 points.
The Celtics were led By Ray Allen’s 24 points, on 8 of 18 shooting. He contributed 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals and…. a partridge in a pear tree. bumbum
Pierce had 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and had the worst plus-minus (-13) on the team. He was hurting for certain. Paul also missed three of four foul shots in the final 4 minutes, though he did hit a three pointer to make it 101-107.
Garnett followed with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and no steals and no blocks for only the second time this year. KG had to guard Danny Granger, a tough cover for him, for most of the game because Granger played power forward with Troy Murphy out. Granger led the Pacers with 29 points on 8 of 16 shooting.
Kendrick Perkins responded to the call to rebound with his first double double (13 rebounds 11 points) of the year. He also had two blocks.
Rajon Rondo had 10 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds and was blocked three times.
Shelden Williams had his best game in a while with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and a block in 18 minutes. Marquis Daniels added 9 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 20 plus minutes.
Rasheed Wallace was 2 for 4 shooting for 4 points in 19 minutes. Eddie House two basket in 16 minutes for 4 points.
Each team had 6 players score in double figures with the Celtics missing having 7 players by one point (Daniels).
The Celtics again have three days off to figure things out. The problem is about more than rest. They need to tweak their game plan a bit. Rebounding has suffered this season and there is little reason that it should be that way.
Garnett is not as athletic as before the injury and Wallace has been asked to space the floor probably more than he should. Other Celtics have not filled the space left by those openings.
The good thing is that rebounding is a problem that is very fixable. Team energy and team defense is another story. Let’s see what Doc Rivers and the Celtics come up with by Wednesday night’s game at home against the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors just announced that they traded their malcontent small forward, bad boy Stephen Jackson, along with Acie Law, to Larry Brown’s Charlotte Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic.
That should help settled that team down a bit, though there are still issues with other players (see Monte Ellis and Anthony Randolph) and coach Don Nelson on that team.
The Celtics have a few issues to resolve themselves.
