Celtics Central

That isn’t a headline you have seen in Cleveland for years, is it? Welcome to the new world order.

The LeBron-less Cavaliers surprised the Celtics with strong bench support and the help of a technical foul called on Nate Robinson for a leg kick on an attempted lay-up and subsequent Shaquille technical. Those things seem to come in twos now. And they were critical in changing the game’s momentum and giving the Cavs the lead.

Boston, led by Rondo’s 18 points and 9 assists, Kevin Garnett’s 15 rebounds and Glen Davis’ 14 bench points could not sustain their lead, falling in the 4th quarter.

All eyes are on the Celtics’ defense, but the Celtics haven’t broken out of the 80s in either game this season and for 4 straight games including the 2010 playoffs.

Ahead by 11 in third quarter, the Celtics lost 95-87, behind 21 points from new Cavs starter JJ Hickson and strong Cavalier bench support in the form of 32 total points. They held the Celtics to 14 fourth quarter points in an unwanted flashback of last year’s habit.

The Celtics, coming off a big win against LeBron’s new team, the Heat, had tenuous control of the game against the Cavaliers. They are a team trying to find itself while filling the gaping hole the league’s biggest star left, when the two technical fouls gave the Cavs their first lead since late in the first half.

Gibson, Hollins Key for Cavs Bench
Daniel Gibson, getting extra playing time because Mo Williams sat this game out, hit both foul shots making the score 78-77 with 8:15 left. The Celtics had led 66-55 in third quarter on a jump shot by Pierce and looked like they would cruise home with win #2 behind another strong game from the bench.

Instead, the Cavs ignited a 9-2 run behind a Gibson assisted JJ Hickson lay up, a Gibson 3 pointer, a Gibson assisted Verajeo lay-up, and a Ryan Hollins tip in of a Gibson miss on a lay-up. Hollins contributed 10 points in 15 minutes. They closed to within 68-64 and ended the 3rd period at 73-68.

Gibson added 7 more points including the two techs to give Cleveland the lead. Antawn Jamison extended it with 2 straight baskets, his only makes of the night. Boston fought back to retake the lead with Glen Davis drawing a charge on Ramon Sessions, followed by a Davis lay-up assisted by Rondo and a Rondo assisted Pierce jumper.

The Celtics led 84-82 when Sessions made a aly up for his 14th points, Hickson made a lay-up for his 21st points and Anthony Parker hit the crusher – a three pointer to give the Cavs an 89-84 lead with 2 plus minutes left. The Celtics could only muster a final Glen Davis lay-up and a Rondo free throw the rest of the way.

The Bigs
Davis has played well but the lack of height in the 4th quarter aided the Cavs run. Shaq played his anointed 20 minutes relatively effectively, but Jermaine looks lost or slow out there. He is a foul magnet, fouling out in this contest after 12 minutes of play. Jermaine is struggling offensively as well. When Ryan Hollins is allowed to cause damage, something isn’t going right in the middle.

While Garnett had the only plus plus/minus for the Celtics, young JJ Hickson acquitted himself well against Garnett, who had smothered All Star Chris Bosh just 24 hours earlier. The Cavs had 6 players in double figures and that is a good sign for a team that counted heavily on one star for the previous 7 years.

Cav Turnovers Key Celtics in 3rd
Rajon Rondo had ignited the Celtics run out in the 3rd quarter with 2 fast break lay-ups on consecutive Cavalier turnovers, followed a Paul Pierce three pointer and another steal on a knockaway by Glen Davis for a 3rd Rondo fast break. Pierce then hit a step back jumper at the foul line for a 66-55 lead.

The Celtics had 17 fast break points to the Cavs 11 for the game.

With Shaq’s minutes limited, and Jermaine not playing well, Davis is being asked to provide defense he will be challenged to deliver for any prolonged period. He played 33 minutes in this contest. Either Jermaine must show improvement soon or it may make sense to let Semih Erden use his height and youthful energy and learn ‘on the run’ out there.  One wonders if Jermaine isn’t having any lingering health issues.

The Celtics rebounded well enough only because Garnett grabbed 15 boards. He had little help.

Cavalier fans came out in droves and filled the arena 20,000 strong in the first game in the post LeBron James era. Kudos also to Byron Scott for taking this coaching job regardless of whether James stayed or not.

Ray Allen went 0-5 from the arc one night after going 5 for 8 from that area code. Ray finished with 12 points, Pierce added just 13 more while Glen Davis added 14 more on 7 of 11 shooting, including some nifty work underneath and a fade away jumper.

Garnett has scored 10 and 9 points and is shooting just 7 of 19 so far, though he has gone for 10 and 15 rebounds. He only had consecutive double digit rebound games twice all season last year. The Celtics were hurt by 19 turnovers, continuing a long standing pattern with this core.

Nate Robinson added 8 points in 12 minutes by getting to the line, but shot just 1 for 6 from the field while adding 2 assists

Still, this appears to be the deepest roster they have had since the Garnett acquisition, if they can keep everyone healthy.

The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 88-80 to open the NBA 2010-11 season, making absolutely, positively sure the Heat don’t go undefeated this season.

But what do you take from a game like this?

If I could put it in a single sentence…It wasn’t pretty, but it was exciting more often than it was not. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra called it an “ugly game” and it was. But ugly is in the eye of the beholder and it was ‘ugly good’ for the Celtics.

But that doesn’t do justice to some of the other stories of the night.

• Shaq was a force for good when he was out there.

• Marquis Daniels played a sparkling game, except when he was asked to defend LeBron for a long period when Pierce went out in the 3rd quarter.

• Glen Davis played an outstanding game at both ends of the floor and hit a few big shots.

• Ray Allen hit most of the big shots.

• Paul Pierce hit the rest of them.

• Rajon Rondo was the floor general (17 assists) and set up a lot of the Celtic shots with ‘Only Rondo’ acrobatic drives and great court vision.

• Kevin Garnett struggled offensively, but played suffocating defense. Chris Bosh scored 8 points on 3 of 11 shooting.

• Lebron mows down Pierce, falls on him, and gets the foul call causing…

• Pierce to go out in the 3rd quarter with back spasms, only to return later and in so doing, stopped a Celtic energy and scoring slump.

Doc Rivers…

“I don’t know if we win if he doesn’t come back.”

There were definitely periods of uninspired play by both teams. For a game with so much anticipation, after an initial burst of fan driven energy, play at times was a bit underwhelming. Some of that was the defensive intensity, some was a Celtic slow down, and some of that was just missed shots, especially by the Heat.

Ray Allen…

“I actually felt like I was in the playoffs – it was the same feeling and energy,” said Allen. “With those guys coming in here the fans were ready. I could hear them when I walked into the building getting on the other team.”

But the main thing is that the Celtics played excellent defense most of the game and they came through with numerous big plays and big shots whenever Miami got close. Miami was pressured and their shots were contested for most of the game.

Ray Allen led the team with 20 points and 5 big three pointers.

Ray Allen – Shot of the Game

The Celtics biggest lead was 19 points. The Heat slowly climbed back in and got within 3 points at 83-80 on a Lebron drive with 1:10 left on the clock.

That was when Ray Allen hit the biggest shot of the game, a three pointer on the left baseline on a feed from Pierce to ice things at 86-80 with 49 seconds left..

The Lead, The Comebacks, The Response.

The Celtics held Miami to just 9 points in their very first quarter together ‘live’. The Boston Stranglers continued their defensive domination in the second quarter getting the lead up to a surreal 41-22 with 2:13 left. You just knew this wasn’t going to continue for the entire game. Everything seemed slowed down and slightly unreal as if in a dream.

The Cs held Miami to 30 at the break while scoring 45 of their own. Miami was shooting an anemic 26.8% (11 for 41) at the half. It wasn’t just the Celtic defense. Miami missed a lot of open shots in that half as well.

Lebron finally broke through in the 3rd period with 15 points and with a Heat 12-3 run to end the quarter, got the lead down to 6 points  at 63-57. The Heat further whittled that down to 4 points at 68-64 with 8:30 left before Boston pushed the lead back up to 13 at 83-70 with 4:13 left through the scoring of Davis, Pierce and Garnett.

Miami was feeling better about themselves now and surged again with 10 straight points to close with 83-80 with 1:15 left with scoring by James, Wade and Haslem.

James finished with 31 points to lead both teams. Dwayne Wade finished 13 points on 4 of 16 shooting. Thanks to the newness of playing together, a hostile Boston arena, and the Celtics defense, the Heat’s three stars were surprisingly ineffective.

I’m sure that will change and they will get better over the next few weeks. But as Doc Rivers said, so will the Celtics.

From the Celtics perspective, they played a good game against a very talented team. From The Heat’s perspective, the NBA probably put the Heat up against the one team that won’t be intimidated by their star power and thrives on defensive play and on their own court.
Not a good first draw.

But these teams will play three more times in the regular season and I’ve got the feeling that the games will look a bit different than this one did.

There is no talk of record seasons this year by the Celtics. But they are now 1-0 and they did it in impressive fashion.

There has never been a more anticipated opening game to an NBA season. Never. You think so? Name it.

Expect a supernova explosion in Boston on Tuesday night. Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh will face off against Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. Estimates are that 200-300 different media types will be there.

The highly hyped and (surprisingly) highly disliked new Miami Heat will unveil their new all star line-up against the Celtics Tuesday night on national TV at 7:30 pm.

Unless you were vacationing on another planet, you know that LeBron James and Chris Bosh decided to join Dwayne Wade in Miami for a powerhouse threesome this past summer. Make no mistake, they will be unbelievably hard to guard and harder to stop as a unit. Each of the three individually command double teams…almost all of the time.

That will leave shooters like Eddie House, James Jones, Jerry Stackhouse open, gives Carlos Arroyo room to operate, and bigs like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Udonis Haslem will be free to shoot mid range jumpers and to work around the basket. The attention of 5 defenders will always be on the three stars. How well a team adjusts and gets out to the complimentary players will be the challenge. Those are the players you want beating you, not Wade, James, or Bosh.

I’m not sure when, if ever, this kind of talent shifted to one team through free agency in an off season. All three stars have been coming up short as the sole leaders of their previous teams. Now they have each other to count on. That is an understatement, if there ever was one.

The Celtics are the prototype for the Heat, and they won it all in a similar situation in their very first year. The difference is that these Heat stars are all in their prime. James is 25. Bosh is 26. Wade is the old man at 28. The Celtic stars were already 30-ish. Pierce was 30, Garnett was 31, and Ray Allen was 32 when they started together. Those years will make a big difference in the longevity of this Heat core.

But the NBA couldn’t pick a better team to start them against. The Boston Celtics knocked both the Wade and James out of the playoffs last season and went on to almost dethrone the Lakers in 7 games in the Finals.

Celtics – Big, Bad, and Hungry
The Boston Celtics and the Heat are on a collision course in search of the 2010-11 NBA Title. Both teams will accept nothing less as a successful season. They play in the same conference and will have to get by each other to move into a Finals appearance.

The Celtics lost their center Kendrick Perkins in game 6 of the Finals and he will be out at least until February. They needed more height before he went down.

The biggest surprise signing, after the Heat summer signings, was the signing of 38 year old Shaquille O’Neal by the Celtics for the league minimum ($1.3 mil for a veteran with Shaq’s years of service). O’Neal could have gone elsewhere for more. The only thing that matters to Shaq now “is winning” or so he says. And so far he has been good to word.

The Celtics also signed Jermaine O’Neal, Semih Erden, Delonte West, and Von Wafer. Before that, they re-signed Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels, making them as deep as they have been since Garnett came to Boston. Rajon Rondo is ever on a quest to be the best point guard in the league. Glen ‘Big Baby” Davis has looked better than ever in preseason. To a man, this team is locked onto getting another title since the season ended. They regrouped together after Doc Rivers decided to come back for another run.

The Celtics earned the respect of fans, and players around the league after going just 27-27 after Christmas Day and then mowing down the Heat, Magic and Cavaliers before going the distance with the Lakers. They lead by 13 and were ahead with 6 minutes left in game 7 before it all fell apart, losing by 5 points.

Paul Pierce now reveals he played much of the year with injuries previous unknown to the public (turf toe, which continued to bother him in the playoffs and a knee that need regular draining) and multiple known injuries that disrupted his ability to play his game last season. He says he is now healthy and ready to go.

Kevin Garnett is a year removed from his surgery and looking far better this off season, mobility-wise . Ray Allen continues to be in great shape. Rondo is sharp, and Davis has kept his weight down and his game is up. Pierce said Davis had the best pre-season on the team.

Rookie Semih Erden, a 7 footer from Turkey, taken with the 60th pick of the draft 2 years ago has shown promise in solid minutes in pre-season. Delonte West will be serving a 10 game suspension to start the season, but was an important pick-up by the Celtics as an all-purpose guard.

West has shown great chemistry as a back court tandem with Nate Robinson, who has shown growth and maturity on the court. Even 15th man Von Wafer can light it up from downtown.

Marquis Daniels has quietly had a very productive preseason and is a key defender, especially in games like these. He will have to guard LeBron James when Pierce rests.

Story lines? We’ve got stories.

Eddie House was stung by the midseason trade from Boston, the team he helped win title 17. He was approached by the Celtics to return but decided on signing with Miami instead. He started his career and played 3 years there.

Shaq brings a boatload of revenge vibes with Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant particularly. He also called Bosh the RuPaul of the NBA.

Jermaine O’Neal played with the Heat last season. He says that he could have gone back to them, but chose the Celtics instead. So, each team has a defector of sorts.

The vaunted Celtic defense will be tested in a big way against the Heat. They must keep their composure on highlight reel plays and fast breaks and not let it rattle them – similar to the NBA Finals.

The Celtics want to get title 18 and stop the Lakers from getting title 17 at the same time, which would tie the Celtics for most titles ever.

Shaq wants a title to tie Kobe with 5 each. Kobe would love to beat Shaq while gaining a three peat.

Another title for Pierce, Allen, Garnett, and Rondo would add to their legacy.

This will be an exciting year for the NBA. This is as good of a statement game as you could have for an opening night game.

Will Boston’s experience, chemistry, depth and defense carry the day? Or will the unbridled energy of a potent threesome from Miami carry them to victory in their very first game together?

I’ll be at the game to let you know. I am pretty jaded about these things now, but this is one exciting match up.

Let the game(s) begin. It’s All About 18

Here are the final division previews, The season starts tomorrow!

Check them out!

Grizzlies:  Straight Outta Vancouver | 3 Shades of Blue | SBN Recap

Hornets: At the Hive | Hornets247 | SBN Recap

Mavericks: MavsMoneyball | The Two Man Game

Rockets: The Dream Shake | SBN Recap

Spurs: Pounding the Rock | Project Spurs | SBN Recap

All Previews at SBNation

Stephane Lasme the popular final cut of the Celtics this preseason (along with Mario West)  was getting all set to play for the Celtics D-league affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, if nothing else presented itself.

But Alex Kennedy tweeted that the Phoenix Suns have had him in for a workout this week-end and that was confirmed by SBNation Arizona’s Seth Pollack….

“Even the new front office team of Lance Blanks and Lon Babby isn’t satisfied with where the roster stands. Blanks confirmed reports from Hoops World that Stephane Lasme worked out with Phoenix this weekend. Lasme, a 6-foot-7 forward was recently waived by the Boston Celtics. He’s considered to be an energetic, physical player which would indicate the Suns are missing what Louis Amundson brought to the team last year and aren’t ready to turn that role over to rookie Gani Lawal.

Blanks said the team has worked out other players as well although declined to name them.”

The Suns are having problems getting something together with Amare gone. They did not bring in anyone that would address what Stoudamire did for them in the past. Lasme plays hard, aggressive defense and can score around the hoop. The Suns need that toughness.

Phoenix is expecting big things out of Hedo Turkoglu, and have added all around scrapper Josh Childress as well as offensive minded Hakim Warrick. They will have problems rebounding and shot blocking and Lasme might help with those needs. They are also looking at Erick Dampier for more rebounding, height and defense.

I found this at Sam Amick’s new column with FoxsportsOhio. It looks like it will be called Double Dribbles.

It is interesting to see who is left out at this late date. The 2010 dance is about to start.

Free Agent Finds?

Plenty of veteran free agents remain, and a few of them may still be able to help a team. So don’t be surprised to see some signed within the next week, just in time for the regular season. Or in some cases, shortly after the season begins.

A position-by-position look at some names you may know who are looking for a home (most recent team in parenthesis):

Center: Erick Dampier (Charlotte); Fabricio Oberto (Washington); Earl Barron (New York); Mark Blount (Minnesota); Earl Barron (New York).

Power Forward: Sean May (New Jersey); Mikki Moore (Golden State); Josh Boone (New Jersey); Ike Diogu (Detroit); Shavlik Randolph (Miami).

Small Forward: Jarvis Hayes (New Jersey); Devean George (Golden State); Ime Udoka (Sacramento); Jonathan Bender (New York).

Shooting Guard: Flip Murray (Chicago); Sasha Pavlovic (Minnesota); Larry Hughes (Charlotte); Jerry Stackhouse (Milwaukee); Rashad McCants (Sacramento); Juan Dixon (Atlanta); Trenton Hassell (New Jersey); Kareem Rush (L.A. Clippers), Michael Finley (Boston).

Of those names, I would think that a decent veteran big with good fundamentals like Fabricio Oberto could help someone, wouldn’t you?

Mikki Moore – Has the NBA trailed ended for this nice guy journeyman with an almost reliable shot? He will be 35 on Nov 4th. I think the refs are still calling fouls on him from his time with the Celtics….and he is just sitting at home playing video games.

Sean May – Is there an NBA player who is more injury prone? I hear that he is changing his name to Sean May B. Not.

Ike Diogu – Apparently he is the Gerald Green of power forwards, except he has lasted longer. He seems like he can play, but I mostly watch him on the offensive end – like I did Gerald Green. If his career wasn’t over before that comment, I probably just finished him off.

Josh Boone – Seriously – he can shot block and rebound. Someone should pick him up for short minutes, even if he shoots foul shots worse (.445 career and only .328 last season) than Shaq. Wait. That’s just crazy. That is why he isn’t in the league. .328? They have standards, you know.

Jarvis Hayes – The Celtics inquired about him. But they signed Lasme and Wafer instead. Hayes can play this game. I really do wonder why he isn’t signed somewhere. He can only be blamed for some of the 70 losses the Nets had last season. Interim coach Kiki gets most of the blame in my opinion. Hayes needs a new agent, I think.

Rashad McCants…can play…but does not play well with others. Whatever he did must have been very bad for no one to want to touch him in a league that gives most bad behavior players second and third chances.

Sasha Pavlovic – has shown some skill offensively, but I guess not enough, when the Wolves drop you.

Larry Hughes – another Celtic near miss. I guess he wanted more than the minimum or….Garnett said not to bring this perennial malcontent into the Celtic family. You pick.

Is it time for the Jerry Stackhouse Steakhouse to open?

I am still waiting for Wally Szczerbiak to be re-signed by the Celtics to play alongside Garnett…again.

Call it the final tune up. The Celtics wrapped up the pre-season last night at home against the Nets with a convincing win, 107-92, and made their final roster cuts. Von Wafer will make the team while Stephane Lasme and Mario West cleaned out their lockers and said their good-byes.

Von Wafer will fill a bigger need than Stephane Lasme did, though Lasme earned a number of fans with his aggressive play. Lasme should catch on somewhere. If not, he should D-league it until someone needs his skills, defense, shot blocking, and toughness.

Mario West played excellent defense at the swing position, a Celtic need. But West is like a shorter Dahntay Jones without the offense, and mind you, Jones has very little offense.  If the NBA ever goes to offensive and defensive units, West will have a place on some team.

That brings me to Von Wafer. In a final burst of his talents last night, he showed why he can be valuable. He can score that orange ball. He not only made 2 more three pointers, he showed an ability to score around the hoop as well. Wafer finished with 8 points on 3 of 6 shooting in 12 minutes. He broke the Celtics’ hearts with a last second game winner with the Rockets a few years ago. When I spoke with him recently, he said that is what he lives for – pressure shots.

The Celtics finished the pre-season 7-1. Yes, I know. Pre-season records are not important. This year the Celtics played all of their games against inter-division rivals. That is to say, they played against no one very good. But it is still nice to see the team want to win every game. That was missing last season.

In the finale, the Cs starters pummeled the suddenly lifeless Nets in a decisive 3rd quarter that was downright embarrassing for New Jersey fans, if any still exist out there. Maybe Brooklynites were watching. The Nets folded like a wet cardboard box. Down 55-48 at half time, the Celtics decided to play defense and to run. The Nets decided to quit.

It looked like shades of last season, when the Net players were going through the motions in a dreadful 12-70 season. Celtic fast breaks were uncontested or ‘false hustled’, and no one wanted to foul out on the Nets. Rookie Derrick Favors received 4 fouls early and laid off serious defense after that. It should be noted that Brook Lopez and Jordan Farmer did not play. New Net Troy Murphy is still injured.

On the other hand, the Boston Celtics appear pretty solid to start the season.

Paul Pierce is looking more aggressive and more effective. He scored 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting in 27 minutes to lead the Celtics. Paul was working around the middle more and playing solid defense. There was one sequence where he was up in Terrence Williams shirt for a long period, causing Williams to try and go mano-y-mano, only to force up a terrible miss.

Kevuin Garnett worked inside and out, going 6 for 14 and 14 points total. KG appeared extremely POed about a foul call on his use of his elbow against Kris Humphries. I guess the refs are changing what constitutes a technical foul. The last time he would have drawn one.

Rajon Rondo led with 12 assists in 31 minutes as he revs up his passing game for Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. Rondo added 5 rebounds and 3 steals.

With Jermaine O’Neal still out with nagging injuries, Shaquille O’Neal started, played nearly 24 minutes and scored 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting to go with 9 rebounds. The Celtics out slightly rebounded the Lopez-less Nets 35-32.

Glen Davis had another solid game. He is looking very good right now. His outside shot was on, though Favors wasn’t coming out to guard him. Glen went 6 of 9 shooting for 14 points to go with 7 boards and 2 steals. Glen hit 3 or 4 jumpers in a row. Rondo worked a drive-and-kick for 2 of them. After frustrating Derrick Favors with his defense for a game and a half, Favors finally broke out with 14 of his 16 points in the second half.

Ray Allen was finally given the spotlight in the 3rd quarter and he delivered big time with all 14 of his points on 4 of 6 shooting with 4 of 4 foul shooting.

Nate Robinson played well, scoring 9 points to go with 4 assists and 2 steals in 20 minutes. Rookie big man Semih Erden played fairly well again scoring 6 points and grabbing 6 rebounds while anchoring the second unit defensively.

The Celtics came out with intensity in the second half and put the game away in that 3rd quarter. The second and third units played the 4th quarter and won that quarter, too.

With the exceptions of Jermaine O’Neal, Delonte West and Avery Bradley, the Celtics are ready start the season. The Heat with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh come to town on Tuesday night to open the season.

That should be a good game.

The Heat, the forgotten Magic, and the same old Hawks with a new coach. The John Wall Years Begin in D.C. and the Bobcats get great coaching from Larry Brown and playing making from DJ Augustin.

Bobcats: Rufus on Fire | Hoops Addict | SBN Recap

Hawks: Peachtree Hoops

Heat: Peninsula Is Mightier | SportsAgentBlog.com

Magic: Orlando Pinstriped Post | Magic Basketball | Orlando Magic Daily | Orlando Sports Central

Wizards: Bullets Forever | Sparty and Friends | Truth About It | SBN Recap