Celtics Central

Well, the fisticuffs are over, but the finger pointing is now in gear. And the Celtics would just like to handle the whole thing quietly and in house.

I’m talking about the incident in practice between Delonte West and Von Wafer.

To recap:

1) Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld broke it with a tweet or set of tweets.

Here they are…in order:

#1 After another intense three-on-three game in practice today, Delonte West and Von Wafer got into a fist fight in the locker room.

#2 Punches were thrown and the players had to be separated. The Celtics are considering releasing West, who is on a non-guaranteed contract.

#3 Sources say that Wafer tried to walk away but West followed him into the locker room and threw the first punch. Doc and vets aren’t happy.

Then Kennedy followed that up with a more detailed article on Hoopsworld that you can read here. But I’ll add this part for a particular reason….

“West has gotten into skirmishes with multiple teammates this season and his confrontational ways have grown old very quickly in the locker room. He is currently serving a ten-game suspension after pleading guilty to weapons charges in July.”

Then Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted this…

Delonte West has been livid with Von Wafer for days, source says, and Hoopsworld.com reports it escalated into fight at facility today.

And then this…

West believed Wafer was responsible for published anonymous quote saying it was “obvious” when West hadn’t taken his medicine, source says.

Things looked bad for West from these initial reports and Von Wafer was portrayed as a victim.

But it all started to change direction shortly after, when Wojo had further discussions with his sources…

Delonte West has been living up to his medical requirements with Celtics and cutting him hasn’t yet been discussed, sources tell Y!

No one with Celtics believes Delonte West had been an issue in locker room. Only the 15th man on roster, Wafer, has problems with him.

It gets more intriguing when Danny Ainge was contacted by Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe and Ainge responded with this…

Ainge said that neither player was in jeopardy of being released. He went to bat for West, saying any notion that the 27-year-old guard had been involved in conflicts beyond this one and a previous dust-up with Wafer last week were untrue.

“I did read that story and there was a lot of lies in that story,” Ainge said. “Things were twisted. It’s not true. We’re not releasing Delonte. There have not been any other of these altercations that have happened this year.

“Guys trash talk and that kind of stuff, but I’m not aware of any other altercation among any players at all during the course of the year. These things happen. It’s not acceptable behavior. We’ll just handle it internally and that’s it.

“Whoever wrote the story had something [against] Delonte. That’s for sure. There’s some untruths in that story.”

So one might wonder how the story, as written, made it out to the media and more specifically from Alex Kennedy in the manner it was portrayed. Does Kennedy have an ax to grind? Did someone slip him bad information? How and why did he run with it in the manner he did?

Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald added this in his story on the same subject…

“Actually, the Celts do have an idea, with sources saying they believe the entire report emanated from the Wafer camp. The Celtics’ current plan is that West will enter the rotation when he returns, and Wafer will move deeper down the bench.”

The part that is most troubling is Kennedy stating that “West has gotten into skirmishes with multiple teammates this season” then mentioning his “confrontational ways” and his 10 game suspension for a weapons charge.

I’m smart enough to know that locker room incidents can be covered up through public denial, though experience has been generally been that, when those skirmishes make it out to the public, they are usually admitted to by the offending party or parties. And everyone moves on.

Remember the ‘almost’ confrontation between Glen Davis and Leon Powe 3 years ago, when they were vying for minutes at the same position? Acknowledge it, have a laugh, and move on. That is what Doc Rivers and the Celtics will do here as well.

In Bulpett’s article both Ray and Shaq suggest the same…

“I’ve seen a lot of fights,” he said. “I mean, you’d be amazed. . . . It doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t change the dynamics of the team.”

He added that such fights can become humorous.

Shaq…

“I’ve seen something like that every year for 20 years.”

But it is possible that things may run a bit deeper here due to the history of both parties (Von Wafer has had his own behavior issues and was out of the NBA for the past year largely because of those) and the fact that Von Wafer is the 15th player on a 15 man roster.

There are two ways to look at the whole thing.

The New York Yankees won a world championship as they fought and argued with each in 1978. We witnessed it some of it as it happened and Sparky Lyle wrote a book about it calling his team the Bronx Zoo. Like the Celtics, they were a very talented team. But they were professionals between the lines and put it all behind them to focus on winning every game. I can see the Celtics having similar traits.

Last year they proved two things. a) Chemistry is a fragile thing. b) They are as focused and as tough minded as they come when it comes times to play ball when it counts – in the playoffs.

If something is going to interrupt this team’s focus this year it won’t be by the 15th player on the team.

The second way is to see conspiracy theories everywhere and to suggest this may have deeper ripples than we might think. I’ll go with the first idea.

Danny saying that he’s ‘not aware’ of any other altercations doesn’t mean, de facto, that they haven’t occurred. But, my guess is that he would have heard of anything unusual like that. More important at this time, it would be prudent to confirm them, if they had occurred.

So, I’ll let you read between the lines and make your own opinions about agendas, personalities, playing time and the such. With what has come out at this point, it would be good advice to those of us who put word to paper (so to speak) to make sure we have the facts as correct as possible before releasing things into the digital universe.

I trust that Doc Rivers and the Celtics will tamp this down and the team will move on.  But one does wonder if both players will make it through the year with the Celtics.

Before the game, Rajon Rondo went out on the court to receive a trophy from Doc Rivers for making the all defensive team and leading the league in steals while also setting a new Celtic record last season with 189. He then went out during the game and almost set another Celtic record…for assists. He finished with 24, second all time only to Bob Cousy’s 28.

Rajon Rondo has been good for so long now that it wasn’t noticeable at first. Rondo was putting on quite a show, but doing it in a workmanlike manner as he dished out his 24 assists for a new career high. For good measure, Rajon also had a triple double with 10 rebounds and 10 points.

After falling behind early 11-2, largely through Rondo’s efforts, the Celtics took control and hung on to win a close game 105-101.

24 assists meant that Boston players were hitting shots. The Cs had a number of solid offensive performances led by Paul Pierce’s team high 25 points and 14 rebounds  for a double double himself while adding 5 assists of his own.

Kevin Garnett looked good and contributed 24 points on 12 of 17 shooting and a double double as well with 10 rebounds in 29 minutes before fouling out with 36 seconds left.

Glen Davis continues his solid play with 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes. He is shooting the jumper with more authority this season and is finishing around the basket much more effectively. It is still early but this could be a break out year for Glen Davis. And it comes none too soon as Jermaine O’Neal was deactivated before the game and Luke Harangody activated.

Davis’ solid and unexpectedly strong offensive showing allowed Shaq to rest and kept the Celtics rolling. Davis’ defense was also good as he used up all six of his fouls and fouled out in the final minutes. Davis had the best plus/minus on the team by far at +15 in only 23 minutes of play.

The Celtics had 6 players in double figures as Ray Allen added 12 and Shaq added 10. The Celtics out rebounded the  Knicks by a substantial 54-38.

If the Celtics had so many fine performances and solid stats, why the game so close?

It is not a concern just yet, but they still seem to play to the level of the team they are playing. In addition, the Celtics turned the ball over 16 times to the Knick’s 10. The Knicks had 8 steals to the Celtics’ 2. The Knicks blocked 9 shots. The Cs blocked one. The Cs shot 12 of 18 from the free throw line to the Knicks’ 18 of 24.

The Knicks hit 4 more three pointers than the Celtics including 2 big ones by Stoudamire in the 4th quarter. Amar’e hit one with 17.5 seconds left to bring the Knicks to within 2 points at 103-101. Stoudamire has hit 2 three pointers only one other time in his career according to a tweet by Gary Washburn of the Globe. Paul Pierce then hit 2 foul shots to ice the game and Amar’e was blocked by Daniels near the arc with 5.9 seconds left to close the game out.

Stoudamire led all scorers with 27 points and Wilson Chandler helped the Knick cause with 19 points and 4 blocks off the bench.

Before the game Doc Rivers discussed the fight earlier in the day between Delonte West and Von Wafer, saying only that it did happen and they would handle it in house. Von Wafer would not acknowledge that it happened, only repeating multiple times that the media would have to ask Doc Rivers and Danny about that.

Shaq injured

He and Amare banged knees and Shaq is listed right now as day to day. There is swelling but no damage. He joins Jermaine O’Neal with swelling knees. That is as reported by the Boston Globe here.

Update

“Whoever wrote the story had something [against] Delonte. That’s for sure. There’s some untruths in that story.”

A completely different version of that story is reported by Julian Benbow in the Boston Globe and Yahoo’s Adrian Wajnorowski

Ainge said that neither player was in jeopardy of being released. He went to bat for West, saying any notion that the 27-year-old guard had been involved in conflicts beyond this one and a previous dust-up with Wafer last week were untrue

“I did read that story and there was a lot of lies in that story,” Ainge said. “Things were twisted. It’s not true. We’re not releasing Delonte. There have not been any other of these altercations that have happened this year.

It went to state that it was handled internally.

There has been a number of tweets from respected journalists taking a different point of view than Kennedy’s. I won’t go into them now.

Suffice to say, there may be more to the altercation than has been originally reported. Time and Celtic management will sort it out. I’ll report the results when they are made public.

A number of tweets report that Delonte West and Von Wafer have gotten into a fight in practice after a 3 on 3 competition. They have had at least one confrontation before, caught partially on video. This time there were punches thrown and teammates had to separate them. West is reported to have followed Wafer into the locker room and threw the first punch.

It was first reported by Alex Kennedy on a tweet.

Here is the link to Kennedy’s report on Hoopsworld and a portion of it follows…

Less than one week after tempers flared during a two-on-two game in practice, Delonte West and Von Wafer had another altercation earlier this afternoon.

After Wafer had showered and sat down at his locker, West approached from behind and threw a punch. Wafer didn’t see the punch coming but quickly got off of the ground and connected on two punches of his own. He then wrestled West to the ground before being separated by the team’s veterans.

The vets are said to be unhappy generally with what happen, and more so because they are playing tonight, against the Knicks.

All sorts of rumors are flying about the reason. Delonte is currently serving a 10 game suspension for a weapons charge and has been diagnosed as Bi-Polar. He is taking medication for it.

Kennedy reports that there have been other confrontations between West and other teammates.

We learn that TV exposure helped fuel Chris Bosh’s move to Miami from Mark Miller at Yahoo….

But it wasn’t just championship rings and hanging with pals inspiring Bosh to make the move. “Really, it’s all about being on TV at the end of the day,” Bosh said, according to TSN.ca. “Seriously. A guy can average 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds), and nobody really cares. If you don’t see it (on U.S. national TV), then it doesn’t really happen.”

The sad part is that he is partially correct. The dollar driven sway that TV has over sports is unbelievable. It might only be those over 40 who know the difference. Whether it is better or worse I’ll let you decide. If money is how we keep score (sports metaphor!), it is better. Certainly ESPN is not the only sports network but they are the most visible and a large part of American culture now.

Mind you Bosh didn’t specify ESPN in particular. It is TV that matters. I’m just using them as a market leader.

ESPN’s Connecticut Connection –
They are still headquartered in Bristol Connecticut, the town it all began.

ESPN – the 800 pound gorilla

ESPN started in Connecticut on September 7, 1979 when cable was still a new medium. The price of oil hit a new high of $24 a barrel that year. Saddam Hussein took over in Iraq. Like those seemingly innocuous events at the time, it was the beginning of something bigger. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe it was a sign that Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ was a hit that year (Billboard Top 100 at # 91).

For Bill Rasmussen, the creator of ESPN, the original idea was to cover sports events in Connecticut like the Hartford Whalers, Connecticut Huskies (before they were good) and the Bristol Red Sox, a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Modest enough ambitions, right?

How the heck did that idea get transformed into such a gigantic concept? I would simply say it was an idea whose time had come and was part of the increased media and information blitz that was only in its infancy and assaulting our culture. I am sure there are more complicated answers.

Sports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not unlike the CNN idea and general news, was a new concept. TV programming drives our major sports now.

So…

if a guy gets 20 points and 10 rebounds in the woods (or in Toronto), did it really happen?

Only if a TV camera was there to record it and sent the feed to a large audience.

The second question is…

Do I feel clean or less clean now?

The answer is that we didn’t stop until we got enough.

Quick Hits

Just a few notes of interest I thought I’d pass along…

First let’s check up on recent Celtics playing in new lands with new teams and different hopes.

The beloved Brian Scalabrine is with the Bulls and here is his stat line in his first game against the OKC Thunder in game the Bulls lost 106-95:

Brian Scalabrine – Chicago Bulls
Scal played 10:37 shot 1-1 for 2 points with an assist and a rebound. His plus/minus was –1 in that time which was much better than team mate Ronny Brewer who was –12 and 0-6 shooting in 15 minutes of time.

Eddie House – Miami Heat
2 games
Celtics: played 26:30 scoring 8 points, on 3 of 8 shooting, and 2 of 4 from the arc, 2 assists, a steal.
76ers: played 21:39 minutes scoring 3 points on 1 of 3 shooting (1of 2 from the arc) with a rebound and an assist.

Bill Walker – New York Knicks
Toronto: played 10:25 scoring zero points on 0-6 shooting with 2 rebounds, a TO and getting blocked twice.

Last but not least the inestimable Tony Allen…

Tony Allen – Memphis Grizzlies
Atlanta: played 11:04 also shooting 0-6 with a rebound, assist, TO, steal and 4 fouls, zero points

From time to time we (meaning I) will check up on them.

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.