Here is another solid article from Jay King, who represented Celtics Central at the game.
Through this dark spell, the Celtics remain optimistic.
The last few weeks have been bleak. Marred by injuries, poor effort, and underwhelming performances, the Boston Celtics have suffered through an 11-game stretch more fit for the Minnesota Timberwolves than one of the NBA’s elite. The 4-7 drought that has followed Boston’s gutsy Christmas-Day performance in Orlando has even left some declaring the Celtics window of opportunity closed.
Count the Celtics unconvinced.
“I’m not worried about it at all, man,” said Rasheed Wallace, “because each team in this league goes through some pitfalls at some point during the season. No one has a perfect season where everything goes right for them on defense or offense.
“It’s not like that. You know you’re going to have some pitfalls and some trials and tribulations throughout the season. But the key of a good team is [to] focus on the main goal and make it better.”
For the Celtics, the main goal is to win an NBA championship. Anything else, and this season will be considered a failure.
As it is right now, the Celtics aren’t ready to compete for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. With three home losses in a row, they’re playing more like a team destined for an early-round playoff exit.
One could blame some of their struggles on the absence of Kevin Garnett, but they’ve had success without him in the past, and now shouldn’t be any different.
“We’ve been without Kevin; we won games last year,” said Paul Pierce. “That’s not an excuse.”
While Garnett’s return will likely help solve — or at least hide — the problems, Boston needs more than the Big Ticket; it needs focus.
That focus hasn’t been there in recent losses, but Ray Allen believes this bump in the road — extended though it may be — will only help the Celtics in the long run.
“Kevin’s been out, Paul’s been out, Sheed’s been out little bit,” Allen said. “I think, for the long run, that’s ultimately what’s the better thing for this team. I think we’re building a lot of resilience.”
Allen noted that everything a team experiences helps shape it as the season goes on.
“Losing [three games] to Atlanta in the first round of the [2008] playoffs, I think it helped us in Detroit later on in the playoffs.
“You know, those things, we don’t forget. Those are lessons that we learn throughout the course of the season.”
Lessons that will ultimately make Boston a better team. Even if, right now, it’s hard to see the benefits of losing seven games in just 24 games.
“When we get into March, and April, and then May, we think about everything that we went through,” Allen said.
“Our bodies still remember it. You remember those things, and it does help you push forward and deal with the circumstances that are in front of you.”
To Allen, one thing stands out as what the Celtics need to change.
“Consistency in what we’re doing is the ultimate objective.”
It doesn’t take much for Rasheed Wallace to lose his cool. He’s seemingly always using loud, overstated antics to test the referees’ limits.Last night, the refs tested his own.
Wallace was left infuriated by a series of what he deemed unfair calls, culminating with a questionable offensive foul that left Wallace with four fouls and on his way to the bench.
“There were a couple instances where Paul went to the basket and got fouled or whatever, and no calls,” he said. “But we come down, blow on them too hard, and it’s a call.”
“Of course, I get a whole lot of bull—- calls,”
said Wallace, who — understatement of the century alert — felt Dirk Nowitzki received the benefit of the doubt on too many whistles.
“That’s how the story goes,” he continued. “I ain’t worried about it.”
When asked about the fourth foul, Wallace said,
“Honestly, I can’t remember which one the fourth foul was, there were so many bogus [calls].”
TH Edit Note: Rasheed received five fouls.
(The above is more good stuff from Jay King’s night at the Garden.
I would add that Dirk was up set with, and Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle received a technical foul for strenuously objecting to a ‘non call’ in the first half on incidental contact made by Glen Davis on a pump fake by Dirk. A staple move in Pierce’s offense, Paul doesn’t even get those calls very much anymore, unless the contact is more serious than that.)
The Celtics drop their third straight home game and are now 11-7 at home and 27-12 on the year. The Celtics are slumping at 2-4 over their last 6 games, and are 4-7 over their eleven games…all without Kevin Garnett.
Last night’s game had its ups and downs. But the second half it was Dallas. Jason Kidd dished 17 assists and Dirk Nowitzki score 37 points on the night. Paul Pierce led Boston with 24 points and Ray Allen supported in a losing effort with 21.
The following recap and quotes are from Jay King, who was at the game credentialed for Celtics Central. Thanks to Jay for his efforts. He will have another article for later today, as well. Here is Jay’s recap:
It’s tough to beat a good team without following the game plan.
Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Dallas Mavericks are a good team and, for the second half of the game at least, Boston certainly didn’t follow the game plan.
“[In the] third quarter we came out and we didn’t have great energy,” said Ray Allen. “We’ve got to put together 48 minutes if we want to be good and successful for a longer period of time.”
Explained Doc Rivers,
“[In the] second half, I thought our defense was horrendous. I didn’t think we got back at all on defense. They had numbers every single time. We had our guards crashing the glass, trying to get to the offensive glass.
“All of a sudden it became a walk-the-ball-up-the-floor, slow-down basketball game on one way. And then on the other end they were running it back down our throats.”
Long story short, ’twas a tale of two halves.
The Boston Celtics emerged from their locker room after halftime with a comfortable nine-point lead. They returned after the game with their heads down, their tales firmly between their legs, and a nine-point loss.
On the surface, the game should have been very winnable. The Boston Celtics were rested, playing at home, and matched against a struggling Mavs team having lost three out of its last four games. (Not to mention playing the second night of a back-to-back that started with last night’s 22-point shellacking in Toronto.)
But if you’ve seen some of the C’s home performances and knew some of their injury problems, you understood it wouldn’t be that easy.
Even though — for a half — it looked like it might.
Boston was every bit the better team in the first half, shooting 55.0% and — more importantly — even getting an occasional defensive stop.
In the second half, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks were simply too tough for the suddenly listless Celtics to compete.
“I thought we came out relaxed and we thought Dallas would just go away,” said Rivers.
But Dallas, and especially Nowitzki, had other plans.
Dominant Dirk
Dirk Nowitzki has had a hell of a season. In fact, if had he not once received a Most Valuable Player award some regard as one of the most undeserved in NBA history, Dirk might even be garnering some attention as this season’s MVP.
But even in a season as special as Nowitzki’s has been so far, few games have seen him be so dominant as he was in scoring 37 points at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Glen Davis….
“Dirk’s a great player. He did some great things today, hit some big shots. He got going in the third, hit four or five straight.
“The fourth foul with Rasheed really hurt us because Rasheed was doing a great job playing defense on him.”
To be fair, Rasheed had already given up six third-quarter points to Nowitzki before exiting with 3:56 remaining in the third.
But after Brian Scalabrine subbed in for Wallace, Nowitzki erupted for nine straight points, scoring on each of the Mavs’ next four possessions.
Kevin Garnett’s absence no excuse
Kevin Garnett is the heart and soul of the Celtics’ defense. He’s the anchor who’s always talking, always moving his feet, and always active and ready to make a play.
But Doc Rivers refuses to use Garnett’s absence as an excuse for their porous defense of late.
“Even if [Garnett's return] does fix problems, everybody has to have a better mental focus,” Rivers said. “It can’t be one guy.”
Rivers explained…
“[Garnett's] not in right now and everybody else is. And they know their jobs. You know, they know their jobs.
“The voice of Kevin, yeah, it always helps. Because he holds everybody accountable.
“But that voice isn’t there right now and somebody else has to do it.”
Mavs in transition
In the first half, Boston won the battle in transition. Rajon Rondo was flying up and down the court, disrupting the Mavericks offense and creating scoring opportunities at the other end.
The second half was a different story. Dallas was hungry, getting stops and pushing the ball the other way down Boston’s throats.
“I think offensively, we put them in transition,” said Ray Allen.
“There was a stretch we didn’t get back at all and they had us playing on our heels. One side of the ball affects the other.”
Dirk Nowitzki thought the Mavs’ transition offense was a key to their success.
“If we get stops then we can play the kind of game we want to play and that’s a fast-paced game. Get the ball to J-Kidd on the break, get everybody on the move, get Marion on the run, get Josh on the slice and dice, get Jet on the move and I think that’s the way we want to play.”
In the second half, the Mavs’ played just that way.
Nowitzki said, “We finally got some stops in the second half and we were running, we were moving the ball, and it was fun to watch.”
Isn’t Jason Kidd supposed to be old?
The Celtics are an old, aging bunch; nobody would dispute that.
But none of them are as old as Jason Kidd, the point guard who torched them for 13 points and 17 assists.
Kidd, who hit all three of the three-pointers he shot, limited Rajon Rondo to only 2 points and 4 assists in the second half while running his own offense to near perfection.
“Dirk putting the ball in the basket helps,” said Kidd. “But just running the pick and roll, running the offense, knowing who is going to be there and guys putting the ball in the basket.
“I had the ball today and I felt comfortable in making the right decision.”
This was going to be a tough game for the Celtics. The Celtics were down their two most talented and longest big men against a team that has active, young big men of their own. The Bulls are 7th best in the NBA in ‘points in the paint’ defense.
The Bulls’ now famous 35 point second half collapse to Sacramento immediately brought out every NBA fan’s lawn chairs, much like the old colosseum spectators, expecting blood in Chicago. Everyone lined up along the NBA road, waiting for Vinny Del Negro’s head to roll by.
The Bulls then lost to the Knicks. But to the surprise of everyone, they then went on a 4 game winning streak. They lost the next three straight and now have won 3 straight. What does all that mean? It means the Bulls are 7-3 over their last 10 games with this win. They are a game better than last year at the same point. Vinny Del Negro’s head is still attached.
To be sure, only 3 of those wins are against teams over .500, including the weakened the Celtics, but still.
The Celtics drop their 6th game over the last ten and are now 27-11.
It goes to show that you can just never tell in the NBA. How safe Del Negro’s job is, I don’t know.
What I do know is that this Bulls team is the leading shot blocking team in the NBA (3 way tie), has the 4th best field goal defense, 9th best defensive rating, 5th best rebounding differential, and is generally playing their best ball of the year.
They beat the shorthanded Celtics last night, 96-83 after leading almost the entire game and blocking 10 Boston shots. I guess the Celtics were short armed, too.
The Celtics played catch up all evening and managed to get within 4 points at the 8:06 mark of the 4th quarter. After receiving a pass, Eddie House quickly bounced a nice interior pass to Kendrick Perkins who was moving underneath from left to right. Perkins caught the pass in stride and continued under the basket for the right side lay-up to make it 75-71.
The Celtics could only close to within 6 points after that and did that numerous times. With Paul Pierce and Ray Allen missing shots, the Bulls pulled away to their biggest lead at the end.
Boston’s offense was constantly taking too long to find something. They had multiple 24 second shot clock violations and many shots were taken late in the 24 second count.
Luol Deng was the main Celtic nemesis with 25 points on 8 of 13 shooting. Deng was 5-5 in the first half with 16 points total.
Paul Pierce was looking a step slow, but led the Celtics with 20 points on 6 of 18 shooting. Pierce added 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Rajon Rondo appeared to tire late in the game as well, allowing Derrick Rose to penetrate and add 9 big fourth quarter points. Rondo finished with 15 points on 6 –14 shooting, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 5 turnovers.
The Celtics were terrible at the foul line, hitting just 15 of 28 attempts. They were even worse from the three point line, shooting 4 of 17.
The Bulls had 13 more shots on basket, out rebounded the Celtics by 50-39 and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to the Celtics 8. The Bulls converted 16 second chance points, while the Celtics could only convert 2 second chance points on those 8 offensive boards.
Pierce was blocked five times. Perkins was blocked three times and Davis and Rondo once each.
It was a wonder why the Bulls only won by 13.
This was a game you could question the strategy three ways.
1) With Wallace and Garnett out, on the second night of back to back games, wouldn’t it have been a good time to have given seldom used Bill Walker and J.R Giddens a real chance to help and to develop?
The Celtics were slower to rebounds, loose balls, and eventually tired in the 4th quarter. Walker or Giddens could have brought some energy, individual offense, and possibly rebounding to a Celtic team that was hurting for scoring.
2) Wouldn’t it have been a good time to set a strategy to get Ray Allen as many looks as possible?
Ray Allen had ten shots on hoop all night. Unless he is nursing an unmentioned injury, that was no where near enough. Often, the picks didn’t look that strong in this contest either.
Ray was largely uninvolved, grabbing just one rebound, no assists, but had three turnovers in 35 plus minutes.
3) Eddie House and Tony Allen could have seen more action, too. House was the only plus/minus on the team (+8) and… while Tony had two unnecessary turnovers, he could attack the rim better than anyone else on the Celtics in this particular contest and did have energy to burn.
House started off 5-5 shooting and finished 5 of 6 in 19 minutes. He started the 4th quarter off with a jumper, a huge steal, making the lay up, and making the score 70-65.
Of course, the response to those criticisms would be that the Celtics almost pulled out the win with the strategy Doc used.
Honestly, it didn’t appear that the energy was there to maintain a lead, even if they got one. Fresh legs might have helped.
Kendrick Perkins did battle as best he could with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots of his own.
Glen Davis grabbed 8 rebounds, but had only 6 points on a night they could have used more from him.
Brain Scalabrine started again, got in early foul trouble and stayed there all night, finishing with 5 personal fouls. He played 20 minutes, scoring 7 points, including two clever drives for lay ups in traffic. They play him for the three point shot and it was good to see him effectively add to his repertoire with the drives. The down side with Brain is rebounding. He was only able to grab 3 rebounds and missed 4 straight three point shots.
The Celtics played their best defense in the second quarter when they held the Bulls to 5 of 18 shooting for 28%.
Unfortunately, the Celtics could only muster 39 first half points and a paltry .417 shooting against an active Bulls defense. 7 of the Chicago blocks were in the first half.
The Celtics get to regroup over the weekend and play Dallas in Boston on Monday.
‘Net Zero’ had a whole new meaning in the first half of this contest.
That was the combined effort of the entire Net team in the first half.
First Half Demolition
The Celtics ran up a 30 plus point lead and went to the break more than doubling the Nets score at 71-35.
Rajon Rondo finished the game with more assists than the entire Net team (14-13), as the Celtics had their way with the Nyets.
Paul Pierce, who led all scorers with 24 points, made a three point jump shot to start the game and the Celtics never trailed as they destroyed the hapless Nets 111-87. It was never even that close. The lead was as high as 36 points. Pierce added 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
This game was so ‘in-the-bag’ that little used J.R. Giddens logged 16 minutes and the invisible man, Bill Walker, saw 6 minutes of daylight.
The Celtics simply got whatever they wanted.
Rajon Rondo continues his superior play, making his case for an All Star bid by continuing to direct the offense masterfully and with unselfish, smart play through out.
First Half Demolition
Ray Allen was a perfect 3-3 shooting with a three pointer and 4-4 from the free throw line for 11 half time points. He finished with 15 points in 25 minutes.
Glen Davis scored 11 points in 7 minutes off the bench in the first half, including corraling his own missed foul shot and hitting a jumper to amend the miss. Five Celtic players were in double figures by the break.
The Celtics shot .684 from the field and were 5 of 10 from the three point line. They were out rebounding the Nets by 25-13 and had 21 assists on 26 baskets.
Kendrick Perkins led the Celtics’ defensive effort with 3 first half blocks, finishing with 5 on the game. Perkins finished with 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 8 rebounds.
Play of the game (and NBA.com number play of the night)
Paul Pierce saw Tony Allen getting behind the defense and lofted an alley oop to a spot Allen came out of nowhere to collect and twist it into an authoritative slam, making the score 48-25. Tony finished with 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting, with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers.
The Nets shot .306 in the first half on 11 of 36 attempts with 5 assists total.
This was as much of a contrast of two teams with opposite realities and destinies as you will see. The Celtics are all about right now. Even depleted of two of their best players (Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace) and Rondo and Pierce playing with assorted bumps and bruises, they are focused on another run at the NBA title.
The Nets are young and inexperienced and trying to avoid NBA history for having the league’s worst record ever and get to next year when their financial prospects do a complete turnaround as the Russian Mark Cuban gallops in on his shining white horse with rubles aplenty. They will be a completely different club next year.
As bad as their now 3-35 season has gone, the Nets totally embarrassed themselves and the league with a first half performance that an intramural league crowd would be ashamed of watching. They didn’t compete in the least. It was truly a pathetic performance.
The blame should start with Kiki Vandeweghe, General Manager turned reluctant coach, for allowing that to occur. If it had continued through out the entire game I would calling for him to be fired and someone…anyone else to take over.
The second half was credible enough to withhold my fire, but not my disgust.
The Nets finally did come out and ‘at least’ compete in the second half, outscoring a Celtic combine that was in ‘conserve-the-lead-mode’ at that point. The Nets ‘won’ the second half 52-40 as the Cs rested the starters for all of the 4th period.
On the Celtics side, there were some nice performances by Giddens who score 6 points on 3 of 5 shooting. Those points included a highlight reel reverse dunk and Giddens grabbed 7 boards.
Bill Walker showed that individual offense is never a problem for him as he hit a jumper and drove for vicious dunks twice and scored 6 points with 2 boards and 2 assists in just 6 minutes.
Brian Salabrine started strong with 8 first quarter points on 3 of 6 shooting with 2 three pointers finding their mark. Brian finished with 11 points, 4 boards and 4 assists in 28 minutes. If you get a chance, go over to Celticsblog and check out Brian Scalabrine’s dance after a Bill Walker dunk. Hilarious! (It is near the end, you have to watch a few other plays first)
Davis managed to foul out but added 13 points and 4 offensive boards. Shelden Williams grabbed 6 boards in 17 plus minutes, but took just two shots, coming up empty.
Eddie House was off, ending up 1-9 shooting, but had 2 steals.
If anyone was left in Izod Center after half time to witness it, it would be a miracle. Getting home to watch High School Reunion on TVLand would be a compelling reason to dismiss them selves after such a first half travesty.
The Celtics came out and made 12 of 18 first quarter shots and they must have been completely surprised at how little resistance the Nets’ defenders gave them. The Nets pretended to defend and the Celtics had a field day sharing the ball and taking it to them. I’m sure that Celtic practices are harder.
The Celtics ended up with 56 points in the paint, as Brook Lopez stood alone trying to stop the swarming Green. He finished 4 blocks and 18 points. Yi Jianlian had 2 points at the half but added 17 garbage time points. In 33 plus minutes Yi grabbed just 3 rebounds and had no assists. Yi has just 6 assists in 12 games this season.
Devin Harris had one point and was 0-6 at the half, while Rajon Rondo had 10 assists and 7 points on 3 of 4 shooting. Rondo’s plus/minus was +32…at the half. Harris? His was –36 at the half.
Harris has been plagued by tendinitis in his shooting arm all year and a shift from a pick and roll offense to an isolation and post up offense featuring the Nets shining new center Brook Lopez. Rumors are that even Harris, previously untouchable, is now available for the right trade.
Boston is now 27-10 overall, but just 6-5 with at least one starter out.
The Celtics get no rest as they come home to play the Chicago Bulls tonight at 7:30.
Throw Brian Scalabrine’s great performance out the window. Throw Rajon Rondo’s out there, too. Paul Pierce? Ditto.
Go figure. This was a game that I was going to save time by writing up my notes as I watched throughout the first half. Little did I know that the entire complexion of the game would change drastically midway through the 3rd period.
The Hawks scored a real victory. Did they get a moral victory as well? Rasheed Wallace joined Kevin Garnett with a mild injury that Coach Rivers decided would keep Wallace sidelined.
Joe Johnson played a masterful game, scoring 36 points, a career high against the Celtics. For the second straight time, Jamal Crawford was a huge factor for the Hawks, scoring the last 6 points of the game to garner the third straight win for the Hawks against the Celtics, and finished with 17 points off the bench.
But let me state right now, this could be the most misleading or misinterpreted win/loss of the ongoing relationship between these two teams.
What was supposed to be just another regular season game had already assumed a bit more significance because the Hawks had won the previous two times they played.
You could have bet the house that the Celtics would win this game.
Glen and Glenn
I can throw away my notes away because they really didn’t matter after Glen Davis was called for a controversial flagrant foul on Marvin Williams on a drive midway through the third period. On an angle you would see from the Celtic bench, it looked like little contact other than going for the ball. From another camera angle, you could see Glen’s other hand also on top Williams, helping push him down.
Earlier in the game, Zaza Pachulia was called for a flagrant foul for whacking Perkins in the head while attempting to stop a lay up.
The Celtics were already finding it hard to get meaningful fouls called, while the Hawks didn’t seem to be having the same problem. Taking into account that Heinsohn is a true homer, he called this one of the worst officiated games of the year. It did appear that some obvious fouls weren’t called, and, inconsistent with the theory of hometown calls, the foul total was in favor of the Hawks.
One example was a great defensive play by Shelden Williams on…who else… Marvin Williams on a drive. He got all ball but was called for a foul. But those kinds of calls happen all the time. Still it would have been nice to see Shelden get rewarded for a great play. There were others with Ray and Paul, but again, you have to play through that.
To the Celtics, and their fans in the Garden, it was flagrantly foul officiating.
By half time, the free throw attempts were 13–6 in Atlanta’s favor. It wasn’t because the Cs were shooting jump shots either.
Pent up Celtic emotions came boiling out for Doc Rivers and normally staid, composed Armond Hill.
The Celtics were up 67-57 and in control of the game when the flagrant foul unleashed Doc’s outburst, Hill’s follow up T, and the resulting Hawk parade to the foul line changed everything. After shooting 5 consecutive foul shots due to 3 technical fouls and 2 more for a shooting foul, momentum began to shift.
It also turned into a playoff atmosphere, because everyone in Celticland wanted to win this game.
Fans mockingly cheered when a foul was finally called on Mo Evans guarding Paul Pierce.
Thibodeau’s Strategy Could Be Questioned
Associate Head Coach Tom Thibodeau took over after Rivers was thrown out.
But one could wonder if Tom Thibodeau coached from pressure or from best logic. He played the entire starting five, with only Glen Davis replacing Brain Scalabrine, for the entire 4th quarter. Brian Scalabrine, Tony Allen, Eddie House, and Shelden Williams would not be seen beyond the 3rd quarter.
On the second night of back-to-back games, an already sore Rajon Rondo played 45 minutes and Paul, Ray, Kendrick played 42 plus minutes. Boston scored 16 points in the 4th quarter, while shooting 5 for 16.
The Hawks made 4 of the 5 foul shots making it 67-61, and they maintained the ball. The undermanned Celtics slowly lost the lead. Crawford tied it up at 75 with 1:22 left in the third.
The Celtics regained a small lead and maintained it until Joe Johnson made a tough fade away jumper with 7:27 left in the game. The game was back and forth after that, with Johnson hitting multiple big shots and scoring twelve 4th quarter points. His last three shots tied or regained the lead for the Hawks.
Ray Allen hit a big three point shot to regain the lead at 91-89. Rajon Rondo hit a lay up to regain the lead at 93-92. Down 93-96, Davis made a driving lay up, was fouled and hit the free throw to tie at 96.
After that Jamal Crawford took over for the win.
In defense of Thibodeau, Glen Davis had a solid 4th quarter offensively, scoring 9 of the Celtics’ 16 points on 2 of 4 shooting while hitting 5 straight clutch free throws.
It was unusual that Paul Pierce played the entire quarter, but took just two shots in such a crucial situation, scoring zero.
The Celtics had been playing an inspired game with Rasheed Wallace sitting this one out with a sore foot. Brian Scalabrine got the starting nod and ended his shooting slump, making three of three from the arc in the first half. More important, he played really solid defense on the high flying Josh Smith, holding him to 4 first half points on 2-6 shooting.
Rajon Rondo was putting on a magnificent performance, scoring almost at will. Rajon came out super aggressive, blowing by Mike Bibby whenever he desired. He conducted a lay up drill and hit another three point shot and a jumper. He was also drawing the defense and kicking it out…textbook fashion. Rondo finished the first half with 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting with 6 assists.
Rajon finished the game as the Celtic scoring leader with 26 points on 12 of 20 shooting, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, was blocked four times, and had three turnovers
Paul Pierce picked it up late in the first half with a couple of three pointers and rebounded and passed well, going into half time with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Paul finished with 19 points, 3 of 6 from the arc, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers.
Ray Allen finished with 16 points on 5 of 10 shooting, 3 of 5 from the arc, 5 rebounds, three assists and two turnovers.
Glen Davis was more focused and aggressive in this game, going 2-2 in the first half. He grabbed just 4 rebounds in 27 minutes. Glen played together with Shelden Williams in the first half and they were +5 together. Williams hit a lay up off a Pierce pass and generally played well against his old team.
Summary
The main thing to take from this game is not that the Celtics are in trouble against the Hawks. It is that it took such a game changing incident and the lack of two key Celtic bigs for the Hawks to win this game.
No doubt the Hawks are a young, talented, athletic team. The kind that gives the Celtics trouble. I know they beat a healthy Celtic team in Boston in November. They have now beat them three straight times.
But they are not a true rival until they can beat a fully healthy Celtic team that is concentrating fully on winning. I think the Celtics feel the same way.
The problem at the moment is that the Celtics are rarely fully healthy and rarely fully concentrated on winning.
It was an interesting game as it was. It would have been even more interesting and a different game if Wallace had played.
Kendrick Perkins had 11 points, 9 rebounds and 6 turnovers. Three were traveling calls.
Brian Scalabrine played, by far, his best game of the year.
Rajon Rondo continues his assault on the league and his march toward stardom with a triple double against the Celtics’ kissin’ cousins, the Toronto Raptors. Rajon finished with 22 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds.
Rasheed Wallace dropped triples of his own on them with 5 three point shots made ( 7 attempts). Wallace, starting again for the injured Kevin Garnett, had his biggest offensive game as a Celtic. He led Boston with 29 points on 9 of 12 shooting. His previous Celtic best was 20 points.
There are just some teams that the Men in Green have little respect for, even with their emotional and defensive leader out of the line up. I said before that the Raptors area highly skilled team. They are even playing solid defense now, holding opponents to an average of 94 points over their 9 game run. That number is skewed somewhat by a 94-64 beating of the Pistons, but still solid.
Yet, when it comes to a playing against a physical team like the Cs, the word soft still comes to mind. The Cs don’t seem to regard Atlanta highly enough and now get beat because of it. The same can’t be said for the Raptors. They were of 8 of 9 in wins coming in, but the Cs beat them for the 7th straight time.
Raptors Declawed
Boston pushed a game Chris Bosh (31 points) a little further towards the free agency door as they stopped a three game Raptor winning streak and 6 game Toronto home winning streak this time. The undermanned Cs squashed a Raptor five game winning streak on Jan. 2, without Rajon Rondo in that game.
It is like the little brother that keeps playing his stronger, better older brother in the back yard. No matter how hard he tries, the result is always the same.
The Celtics maintained a lead, tenuous at times, for the entire game. After making multiple runs throughout the game, the Raptors made it interesting almost to the very end by getting it to within 4 with 1:46 left at 104-108. Perkins then made two huge free throws after missing four straight up to that point and Pierce hit an 18 foot elbow jumper to put it out of reach.
Fast Celtic Start, Raptors Chase Cs
The Celtics started the game fast with a 10-0 run. Rondo drives and dishes to Wallace and Perkins for lay ups to start things out. Then Ray And Paul drained three pointers. It was looking too easy, and they had the Air Canada Center as quiet as library. But the Cs don’t seem to really have a blow out mentality with KG out.
The Raptors quickly answered back with a 13-7 run to get it down to a three point lead, 13-16. The Raps continued their run, getting to 19-21 with 4 minutes left, before Rondo banked in an end of shot clock three pointer. Rajon then made a fast break lay-up off a Raptor miss to get it back up to 26-19.
Rondo finished the quarter with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Eddie House came alive in the second quarter with 8 points and two threes in a row to keep the Raps at bay. It seems like it’s been a while since Eddie has really impacted a Celtic win. He finished with a respectable 11 points on 3 of 9 from downtown, but no assists, rebounds or steals.
Everybody Loves Ray
Ray Allen hit a difficult mid range banking jump shot over the outstretched arms of Jose Calderon in the second period. Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram has a good article on Ray and mentions Ray attacking the basket more this season…
So Rivers has urged Allen to take the ball to the basket when his defender rushes out at him, and he has. Allen is averaging 4.09 layups or dunks this season compared to 2.86 a year ago. When Allen drives, opponents are careful not to foul him because he’s a career 89.3 percent foul shooter.
Where Ray Allen separates himself from his team mates is in his “off court” plus-minus stats. Imagine that – there’s a stat for what you do when you’re not on the court! Ray Allen is the only Celtics player where the opponents outscore the Celtics when the player is not on the court. The Celtics are -2.6 per net 48 minutes when Ray’s not playing. No other Celtic can claim to have a negative “off-court” effect on the team, and it is not even close. This pushes Ray’s net contribution (add on-court, subtract off-court) to +13.8.
Coincidentally, (or not) Ray’ s plus/minus was a team high +13 in this contest. Quiet Ray just plays, passes, scores, and draws enough attention to keep the court spaced for everyone else.
Sheed, Bosh, And Bargnani
Rasheed Wallace, Chris Bosh and Andre Bargnani displayed the kind of offensive talent from 6′ 11 and 7′ players that only the NBA provides. They all hit multiple jump shots and three pointers through out the game and especially in the 3rd period. Bargnani scored 11 points on two three pointers, a dunk, a jump shot and a free throw in the 3rd.
Wallace countered with three three pointers of his own, to go into the 4th quarter with 22 points. Bosh added 10 points on 3 jumpers, including his banker and 4 free throws
Bargnani looks much more confident, aggressive and smoother lately. Besides hitting the open three, he demonstrated he can score off the dribble and was taking it to the middle with more success in this game. While Bosh’s offensive capabilities are well known, he put on a clinic with 19 first half points and kept it up in the second half.
Boston extended the lead to 15 points 70-55, then the Raptors closed to within six at 80-74 on two Jarrett Jack free throws. Ray Allen hit a jumper and Rondo stole a pass, getting the ball to Perkins for a right side 10 foot jumper to go back up 84-74. The Celtics had it back to a 13 point lead as the 3rd quarter ended on a Rondo lay up 83-70.
Celtics Close with Clutch Play
The 4th quarter saw the Raptors close to 108-104, but Perkins was fouled by Jack after grabbing a rebound and made two clutch free throws after missing his previous four straight tries. Then Rasheed made a huge steal off a Bargnani pass and Paul Pierce hit just his 4th basket of the game, a 18 ft. right side jumper to ice the game 112-104 with 46.5 left. Perkins blocked a Hedo Turkoglu left side running jumper for his 4th block of the game right after that.
Rondo’s 13 assists were largely fundamental, but he had a nice lead pass with reverse spin on it, putting right in Paul Pierce’s hands for two on a fast break off a Bellinelli drive and miss that was rebounded by Wallace. It was like one of those moving timing passes in football.
Though the Raptors just beat San Antonio and Orlando, they haven’t been able to solve division leader Boston. It has been rumored lately that Bosh is leaning towards testing free agency this summer. That has led to more rumors of teams trying to trade for Bosh before Feb 18th, the trade deadline. An offer of Andrew Bynum from the Lakers was said to have been rebuffed.
Rondo All Star Campaign Continues
Rondo was 9 of 17 shooting and made his 3rd straight three point shot. That alone is cause for celebration. He added 4 steals and made 3 of 4 foul shots, another skill he seems to be improving everyday. Rondo is 17 of 21 from the free throw line in his last 4 games. If Rondo can hit outside shots even semi-regularly, he becomes a monster to defend. Continue foul shooting like he has and the sky is the limit for his potential.
Rasheed Wallace came up big with the 29 points in just 34 minutes, including 5 of 7 three pointers, and 2 blocks, a huge steal, and no turnovers.
Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kendrick Perkins all had 16 points a piece, and Eddie House was the 6th Celtic in double digits with 11 points in 16 minutes. Glen Davis shot only 1 for 5, blocked twice, had 2 turnovers, a steal, and was out of sync offensively but added 6 rebounds, (5 offensive) and drew a timely charge in 18 plus minutes.
It is understood that the Celtic defense is just not the same with Garnett out. That is why winning 114-107 was okay. The Raptors are an extremely capable offensive team (rated 5th of 30). The Celtics shot 50.6% to the Raptors 48% on the night.
As Butch Cassidy said to Sundance, “Just as long as we come out ahead.”
Before fouling out after 43 minutes, Bosh led both teams with 31 points and 13 rebounds. Andre Bargnani supported Bosh with 23 points on 8 of 16 shooting, 4 of 7 three point shots, and added 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal. Bargnani looked better today than I have seen him, as he is appearing to assert himself more as time goes by.
The Celtics look for payback as they play tonight in Boston against the Atlanta Hawks. The Cs have lost both games they played with the Hawks this season.
Boston came out of half time with a 45-39 lead. Then the sky caved in.
They were holding the Hawks to 42% shooting, while shooting 46% themselves and were 7 of 12 from the three point line. It was time to extol the positives of having Rasheed Wallace on the team with Kevin Garnett out. Wrap this one up, boys and put a bow on it.
But hold on. The Celtics rarely make things easy this year.
The Hawks went on a 20-6 rampage to start the 3rd quarter. From there, Jamal Crawford did what he does, and that is score the ball, with 14 fourth quarter points on 5 of 6 shooting to hold off a Celtic come back that got them to within 2 points on a Paul Pierce jump shot, at 76-78, with 5:26 left.
If this team has exhibited one thing this season, it is an inability or unwillingness to play 48 minutes of hard basketball. The Hawks simply out played and athletic-ed (new word) the Celtics, particularly in that 3rd quarter.
Atlanta came out and went on a 20-6 run to obliterate both the lead and the Celtics chances of getting revenge for an eye opening loss in Boston to these same Hawks. They had beaten Atlanta 9 times in a row there. The Celtics swept the season series last year. After seeing this game, you get the feeling that the Celtics still do not take this team seriously.
Atlanta outscored them 29-15 in the third. It was a well rounded effort all night by the Hawks with all 5 starters in double figures when the quarter ended. Bibby was active with deflections and Josh Smith had a big time block on a Perkins jam attempt. When it was over, no Hawk scored 20 but Jamal Crawford came out of nowhere in the 4th period to lead the team with 18 points. That included a ridiculous, quick recovery, rain making three pointer from the corner with a Perkins foul added in for good measure.
The Celtics shot 5 of 22 in the third and finished the game at .408.
Rajon Rondo had 10 assists, 5 rebounds and 11 points, including 2 for 2 on three point shots, but wasn’t any where near the factor he was against Miami.
Now the Celtics are down 0-2 to a conference rival that looked ‘not quite ready for prime time’ by losing 4 straight, including 2 in a row to Cleveland, after blowing leads going into the 4th quarter both times. After a ‘players only’ team meeting, the Hawks beat the Nets to stop the bleeding, but Boston made them better in a hurry.
Paul Pierce led Boston with 21 points after scoring just 5 first half points. Paul scored 9 fourth quarter points, but missed his last two shots and made a bad turnover on a pass in the last minute and a half. He finished shooting 8 of 16 with 2 three pointers.
With Marquis Daniels still out and Tony Allen out with illness, Pierce had 6 steals but 4 turnovers and no assists in 40 plus minutes.
Ray Allen added 15 points with 3 of 7 from downtown, but only 5 of 16 overall
Rasheed Wallace fell in love with the three pointer again, but shot just 1 for 8 from downtown, including 0-5 in the second half, scoring 11 points on 5 of 15 for the game, grabbing just 3 rebounds, and dishing 4 assists in almost 39 minutes.
More important, Wallace was late reacting on a number of help situations around the basket, resulting in easy hoops for Atlanta bigs. It wasn’t until the 4th period that Rasheed seemed to get interested in tighter defense.
Kendrick led the team with 14 rebounds (4 offensive), adding 15 points, a block, and 3 turnovers. Kendrick got into an energetic discussion with Josh Smith at one point, but managed to avoid another technical foul.
Two things stick out. The starters were clearly outplayed by the Hawks. Yet, it the bench scoring, or lack of it, that made the difference. Eddie House added 7 points, Glen Davis 4, and Shelden Williams a single point to the Hawks 24, led by Crawford’s 18.
With Garnett, Tony Allen and Daniels out, Doc played three starters 40 plus minutes and Wallace and Perkins around 38 minutes.
Though there were a few calls that the Celtics didn’t get, including a Bibby knock away from Rondo, the Celtics had only 14 fouls called on them on the night. I have to go back and check but that might be a season low.
Neither team got a lot done in the paint as Boston scored 30 to the Hawks 36 points in the paint.
