Celtics Central

I’d like to introduce Jay King of the Celtics Town blog to all the Celtics Central readers. Jay has been writing up a storm for his Celtics Town blog and has his own unique insights into all things Celtic. Check out his site when you get a chance. In order to bring you a different voice and some varied opinion here, Jay has graciously agreed to write for Celtics Central on occasion.

Today, Jay breaks down the Celtics’ loss to the 76ers.   Don’t shoot him. He is only the messenger. It’s all Jay from here on….

Elton Brand was supposed to be washed up, wasn’t he?  He was supposed to be over the hill, past his prime, a shell of what he used to be, right?  At least for one night, though, we were all witnesses to his renaissance.  Brand tipped in a Marreese Speights miss with 7.7 seconds to go, thereby completing a 23 points, 8 rebound night that had basketball fans scratching their heads, confounded that he still has something left in the tank.

I knew the Celtics weren’t going to end the season 78-4.  I knew their winning streak was going to end sometime.  But why, oh why, did it have to end like that?

After a first half that saw the Celtics pound the ball down low, take advantage of their size, and execute to find easy shots, Boston played listless basketball for the final two quarters, failing to match Philly’s improved intensity.  When Paul Pierce isolated at the top of the key for his patented stepback jumper as time wound down, I thought Boston was going to pull out a victory, but I found myself thinking, “They don’t deserve it.”

Because, really, they were outworked and even out-executed by Philadelphia during a second-half surge that erased what at one point was a 15-point Celtics lead.

For the Sixers, Elton Brand and Speights led the way with 40 points and 18 rebounds off the bench , but even those gaudy statistics can’t describe how big an impact they had on the game.  During the first quarter, Philly played a small lineup featuring Thaddeus Young at power forward, and as Boston dominated down low and earned a 20-9 advantage on the glass, I wondered what Eddie Jordan was doing; he left Young in to guard KG, even when KG and Perk were scoring at will, even when he had the physical tandem of Brand and Speights on the bench watching Boston massacre Philly down low.  As soon as Speights and Brand came into the game, though, things changed.  No longer were buckets so easy down low, no longer were rebounds so easy to come by.  By the end of the game, the Sixers were dead even with Boston in rebounds, and one ahead in the point column.

Before the game, when I turned on the T.V., the starting lineups flashed on the screen, and I saw Thad Young was starting at power forward, I started licking my chops.  Young trying to guard Kevin Garnett down low is kind of like Tiger Woods and marriage; even if it worked at the beginning, it wasn’t going to work forever.  If the Sixers kept that lineup, and the Celtics were aggressive attacking down low, I knew it was going to be a long, long night for Philly.

After the first quarter, I knew – just knew – my assumptions were correct… only it was going to be an even longer night for Philly than I expected.  Kendrick Perkins was gobbling up rebounds, Garnett was sealing Young directly underneath the basket for easy scores, and the Celtics as a team were focused and intent on pounding the Sixers into submission.  In that first quarter, the Celtics seemed to start every possession with an entry pass to one of their big men, and it paid huge benefits; a 20-9 advantage on the board and a seven-point lead (24-17) that would have been even bigger had the Celtics not coughed up six turnovers.  Garnett himself had 8 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter, and Perk had 6 points and 8 rebounds.  They were utterly dominant.

(Side note on Perkins: Perk doesn’t exactly look like an altar boy.  He’s a hulking 6’10″ figure who only stops scowling when… well, he never exactly stops scowling.  He’s a chiseled 278 pounds, and looks strong enough to tear apart a car with his two, beefy mitts – or at least strong enough to single-cover Dwight Howard.  But if you listened to the Comcast Sports New England telecast tonight, you know that he did, in fact, serve as an altar boy through his senior year in high school.  In fact, he was the head of the altar boys, the biggest, strongest, scowling’est head altar boy around.)

Back to the Celtics:  After the first quarter was over, they stopped utilizing their size advantage and stopped executing to get easy scores.  Scratch that: for a little while, they kept right on doing what they were doing.  Rasheed Wallace was in at center, and he was abusing Mareese Speights.  He got fouled on a dunk attempt, went right around Speights, missed his shot but cleaned up his own mess, then hit a step-back jumper that kissed off the glass.  ‘Sheed was hot, and he was scoring at will, but unfortunately, he also has a bit of a temper.

After Rasheed was whistled for his third foul on an odd (I wouldn’t want to get fined by the NBA for calling it anything else) moving-screen foul, the telecast cut to a commercial.  When it came back, ‘Sheed was being escorted into the locker room, after a heated conversation with the referee had resulted in two technical fouls and an automatic trip to the showers.

Even after Rasheed was ejected and the Celtics stopped going down low, they still played good basketball for the remainder of the half.  During the rest of the second quarter, the star was… wait for it… keep waiting… keep waiting, this one’s good… Tony Allen.  Yeah, THAT Tony Allen.  The much-maligned Tony Allen.  The oft-criticized Tony Allen.  The down-to-his-last-chance Tony Allen.  I would go on, but I think you get the point.

TA was simply great tonight, especially in the second quarter.  He pressured the ball and forced turnovers.  He got into the passing lane and came away with steals.  He even played with calm, care and patience, attacking the basket when he could and taking whatever the defense gave him.  When Allen jetted in front of Andre Iguodala for a steal, then went all the way to the other end for a resounding tomahawk dunk, I was never more stunned.

I was stunned not because Allen stole the basketball and not because he finished with a very nice dunk, but because his celebration (which kind of looked like some type of rain dance) was so over-the-top it even made Kendrick Perkins smile.  I’ll repeat that one more time, for those of you who are just skimming this article.  Kendrick.  Perkins.  Smiled.  I don’t think that’s ever happened before, not once.  Not even back when he was an altar boy.  (Side note: At halftime, some guy hit a halfcourt shot that netted him $50,000 dollars.  Even after unexpectedly winning all that money, his celebration paled in comparison to Tony Allen’s… which came after a mostly meaningless dunk.  The NBA: where excessive celebration happens.)

I would go on and give an in-depth explanation of the second half, but I don’t want to depress you… or myself.  It was simply a lot of turnovers, a lot of botched possessions, and a lot of Marreese Speights and Elton Brand.  A few times in the fourth quarter, it still looked like the Celtics would pull it out, but every big play they made in the fourth was only a tease.  For whatever reason, after the second quarter, the C’s couldn’t maintain the required effort to sustain and build a lead.

If that last Pierce shot had been a couple inches shorter, this game would have been nothing but an all-too-exciting win.  Instead, it’s nothing but a bad loss to a mediocre (to be kind) team.

Maybe the Celtics will go merely 77-5?

******

Anything else I’m forgetting?  As always, yes…

• Tonight was the first game in a long time in which Rajon Rondo did not look like he was in complete control.  He forced a lot of things, and had a lot of turnovers.

• Shelden Williams played some very good minutes, highlighted by a nice catch and finish to end the third quarter ahead, 76-72.

• Ray, after a touching pre-game ceremony where he was honored for raching the 20,000 point milestone, made a couple of huge drives in the fourth, and a big three on a kick-out from Garnett.

• KG was aggressive and played well, but didn’t shoot nearly as well as he has been shooting from the floor (only 5-14 shooting).

• Until that last play, Pierce wasn’t looking for his shot.  Not even a little bit.  But his missed dunk over Iguodala could have given the C’s the momentum they needed to win the game.

• For the Sixers, Willie Green was good, Iguodala can do a lot of things on a basketball court, and Jrue Holiday, despite being very raw, has a lot of talent.