Thursday, November 22, 2007

10 things about Orlando, Sherpas, and the rotation

1) Orlando

Have you been reading the Orlando box scores? The faint of heart should probably move to the next paragraph because what I'm about to tell you is something so disturbing that it may cause irreversible trauma: Stan Van Gundy has recently been playing his main guys close to 40 minutes per game! Shocking but true.

This is the most outrageously reckless act I have ever heard of. Is he insane? Doesn't the Magic coach realize that playing key players long minutes in consecutive games is incredibly dangerous? Doesn't Coach Van Gundy realize that playing starters for (gasp!) 39 minutes can cause an explosive chain reaction that could obliterate virtually all life from the face of the Earth?

It's happened before. Remember Vincent Price? Remember Charlton Heston?

Please Stan Van Gundy. Keep us safe. Rest your starters. Play Pat Garrity. (Oh yeah, the Magic DID win those two games against top teams.)


2) Rivalry

Orlando and Boston had a nice little contest the other night. It almost made me remember how furious a REAL rivalry can feel- because this is no such thing. It was just a contested game. At various times in history the Celtics have had authentic rivalries with opponents like the Knicks, Sixers and the evil Lakers. Those games were so intense it made you have a physical reaction for days before and days after. If the Celtics won everyone felt euphoric. If they lost, all you felt was a focused desire for revenge. The vile bitterness built and built and lasted for years. What lighthearted fun.

I bring this up because I realize that younger Greeniacs have never experienced the powerful emotions of a true rivalry. That's because they've never seen great Celtic basketball. Oh maybe people thought they felt some mild emotion aimed at New Jersey a few years ago or with Indiana a while before that; but those weren't rivalries— that was just a couple of clubs accidentally bumping into each other.

When the real thing comes along, you'll know it.


3) Stan n' Pat

Orlando does look very good . They've got the monster in the middle and stingers on the wings. They're well coached too. Don't get too attached to Stan Van Gundy though. If the Magic ever do look like they're serious title contenders, won't Pat Riley somehow try to chloroform Stan and steal his job again? What's that you say, Bodyfat Pat can't do it this time? Perhaps not, but if I were Mr. Van Gundy I'd hire some husky ex-mercenary bodyguards from the Happiest Place On Earth just in case.


4) The History of Film

Bear with me on this one.
In the 19th century two rich guys who were also horse racing aficionados had a disagreement. One of them claimed that while racing there were times when all four of a thoroughbred's hooves left the ground at the same time. The other rich guy said this was impossible. Basically they argued over whether horses ever flew. So they made a sizable wager.

How to prove it? They found an enterprising photographer who set up a series of still cameras at ground level along the sidelines of a racetrack. He attached fragile invisible wires across the track from each camera. When the horses galloped by they tripped the wires and created a series of photos. When these photos were viewed in sequence they revealed that horses did at times completely leave the ground. Horses did fly.

I was reminded of all his while watching Ray Allen move around the court. He seems to glide just like those horses- wisely expending energy. At times his feet seem like they're barely touching the floor.


5) Sixth Man

Speaking of Ray Allen— my inner rotation manager (do you have one of those?) keeps suggesting that Ray ought to be this team's 6th man.

The reasons:
It would cut down the potentially catastrophic planet-killing minutes problem.
It would bring enormous firepower off the bench while still leaving the starters with plenty of ammo.
It works really well in San Antonio with Ginobili.
If Havlicek and McHale could do it, why not Ray?
You would still end the game with the big 3 on the floor.

Who would start? House, Tony Allen or Posey? Probably Posey. Eh, I go back and forth on this. Maybe it's crazy.

...actually since this idea is coming from a voice in my head, it likely is crazy and therefore should be treated with powerful prescription drugs made by giant pharmaceutical companies. It's our new national tradition- just say "No" to drugs and "Yes" to medication. God bless America.

Wait, did I get off topic? I'll fix that with a little thought about Sherpas:


6) Sherpas

Celtic TV Ratings are up. There's lots more local and national coverage, more ticket sales, more buzz. But when times were dark (like say the last few years) who was watching the team? Who was keeping the flame burning? You were! Yes I do mean you- anyone reading this now -the hardcore greenhearts.

You're like Sherpas; those dedicated guys that walk up Mt. Everest lugging someone else's gear. Anyone who stuck by this franchise when times were hard should be congratulated. If anything great happens this season, you deserve it. How the hell did you ever walk up that enormous mountain? No matter what else happens, be sure to fully enjoy this season. You deserve it, you hearty bunch of Tenzing Norgays.


7) Kevin n' Paul

I really like the postgame dual press conferences hosted by Garnett and Pierce. Talking to reporters is obligatory so they take on the task together. It makes for a fun dynamic as the two pass questions back and forth. I've heard Garnett isn't crazy about talking to the esteemed fourth estate after games and this twin presser is the result. Good entertainment.

Funny though— for someone who supposedly doesn't like such things, Kevin Garnett is great at it. His way of thinking and speaking is fascinating.


8) 36

Many pointed out after I asked last week that it was the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs who had the greatest increase in wins from one season to the next. 36. They were led by David Robinson who had returned from missing the most of the previous year with injury and rookie (ugh) Tim Duncan.

There's an enchanted symmetry going on here. Wouldn't it be fitting if this Celtics team went 61-21 and broke the record?

Wait, don't answer yet. There's more: Doc Rivers' career coaching record going into this season was 273-312, or 39 games under .500. A 61-21 record would make him 334-333.

It just seems so meant-to-be.


9) Rondo crunching revisited

This summer I wrote a thing about Rondo's rising shooting ability. Though he was barely over 40% last season in fg%, once he got regular minutes and started, he shot 47.3%. A steep upward trend. This year he's in the high 50's.

I'm glad the Celtics have not yet gotten a vet point. It gives Rondo a chance to grow more quickly. He's more than the future at point. He's the point right now. If they want to get Cassell or someone like that at the trade deadline, great. In the meantime let Rondo continue to grow.

Unexpected: Rondo's defense which was his trademark has been uneven so far though. He tries to angle his man off too much and go for the steal instead of staying in front of the guy. It's easily correctible, and Doc pointed it out this week so the mistake is being fixed as we speak.

Soon everyone will pay for doubting Rondo. Oh how they will pay.


10) Golden State

Another 20 point win. Another night of great defense. Another night of great offense. Another night of great rebounding. Everything is right with the world.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

10 things for those who have seen no losses

1) Garnett

I'm no Phi Beta Cappuccino.

I thought I knew something about this game. I was wrong. I did not even come close to realizing how great Kevin Garnett is.

All through the summer Sean Grande TOLD us how great Garnett was. He TOLD us we didn't understand, that we had to watch him play day in and day out. He TOLD us about the metahuman intensity. But did we listen? No we did not. We were too busy watching the Red Sox, drinking delicious icy beverages, going on picnics, and partaking of other carefree warm weather frivolities. I shake my head.

Back to the point— I've watched plenty of Garnett over his career, but apparently not enough to realize just how furiously he plays, how well he passes, or even how dominant a rebounder he is.

I'm dumb. I'm no Magna Cum Latte.


2) Larry and Max

Garnett is great, however let's not take it too far. I didn't hear it but apparently Cedric Maxwell said Garnett was better than Larry Bird. Huh? What the hey? I remember a couple of years ago Max said Nowitzki was better than Bird.

I don't know if Maxwell was kidding, needling Larry, or serious. All I do know is this: If the statement was serious, it was SO incorrect. And if the statement was a joke, it was a bad one. You DO NOT poke Larry Bird. You just don't. It's a bad move on so many levels.


3) Tinsley

I don't know who despises Jamaal Tinsley more, Celtic fans or (judging by their half-empty arena) Pacer fans. That wallop on the Pierce's head by the pathological point guard was ill-advised as it sent Mr. Truth on a rampage of vengeance which ended any Indiana hopes for a victory.

What I found fascinating about that sequence were Paul's push ups. Instead of emotionally reacting to Tinsley's cheap shot, Paul threw himself on to the free throw line and did a couple of push ups to calm himself down.

Later he said this unusual tactic came out of a preseason conversation with Kevin Garnett. Apparently Paul was upset about an incident in the Knicks game, and Garnett told him to do whatever it took to gain control of himself— do some push ups, blow off some steam, and move on. So Pierce literally did. As Doc Rivers said postgame (from Steve Bulpett's article in the Herald), "“This is such an emotional game,” he said. “I know you remember the whole playoff thing, so he was doing everything he could to control his emotions. That to me is what he was doing. He wasn’t trying to put on a show, (but) it’s the strangest damn thing I’ve ever seen.”

I was impressed. It takes a lot to turn a dirty play like that into positive energy. It shows incredible self control and maturity, and more importantly it bodes very well for this team come playoff time.


4) Minutes

I don't want to diminish the legitimate concerns many Celtic onlookers have about the big three's big minutes. In fact I don't really want to talk about it at all since I think that's premature. Instead I just want to say that this reminds me of the 1980's when Celtic fans saw so few losses that they used to get down when the team simply did not win the way they expected.

This is great! Undefeated. Best team in the league (yes). And the issue is style points. I love it.


5) Danny the Drafter

The Celtics would have taken Yi. Danny avoided admitting as much but Doc said it. Yi looks great. The alternate universe resulting from keeping the 5th pick would have been rewarding too. Jefferson/Yi /Pierce (or whoever they might have traded Paul for) would have been fun to watch for many years. Maybe not as great as what Pierce/Allen/Garnett have shown, but that would be good path to travel too.
The moral of the story is, when you have a gifted GM you have confidence and a real future.


6) The Building Fear of the Unbelievers

Remember this?:
The Celtics won't win because the big 3 are too old.
The Celtics won't win because they need time to gel.
The Celtics won't win because they won't share the ball.
The Celtics won't win because their defense is terrible (Ha, my favorite— best in the league terrible.)
The Celtics won't win because of their coach.
The Celtics won't win because of Rondo and Perkins.
The Celtics won't win because they have no bench.
The Celtics won't win because Pierce, Allen, and Garnett came from losing teams.

Now frustrated pagans who fear of the Green are running to deeper fallback positions: "The Celtics won't CONTINUE to win. They've had an easy schedule."

Please. The combined record of the Celtics' opponents has been seriously damaged because Boston has beaten every one of them. Obviously this pace can't continue indefinitely but the team hasn't even hit its stride yet in terms of how well they can play. This is exciting. Perhaps even darned exciting.


7) OBieball

Watching the Pacers brought on a few unpleasant flashbacks. To put it mildly I never liked the three point offense, though I did notice the Pacers shooting was much less reliant on the three pointer than expected.

Still it brought back a memory: When the OB Celtics were shooting endlessly from downtown, Tommy Heinsohn, high priest of the running game, hated it. He never said so but early on when he broadcast those games, he often sighed and remarked, "Live by the three, die by the three."
That only lasted a very brief period and was soon amended to, "Live by the three. (Shrug) Live by the three."

I think Tommy likes Jim OBrien personally and didn't want to criticize his philosophy too much. Anyway, sorry to bring it up at all.


8) Swagger Update

I notice some folks haven't got this swagger thing completely mastered yet. In pregame threads on various Celtic forums, many people are expressing a bit of dismay at certain match ups. Ease your troubled mind. Yes the Celtics will lose now and then but personally I go into every game KNOWING they're going to win. There's no place for doubts this season. Thinking championship is the first step to getting one.


9) A Suggestion

On the home game broadcasts when they do tight crowd shots I often ask myself, "I wonder if that guy posts online. Maybe I know him from RealGM or Celticsblog."

Here's what I think should happen (Please don't tell me it's not realistic.) During fan close-ups Comcast should put a graphic onscreen revealing the person's online screen name. Great idea huh?

You could look at the television and say, "Hey there's johnnybanner17! There's piercedanny! There's maineceltsguy! I know him. I know that guy!! Hmm, I didn't think he'd look like that."

Wouldn't that be entertaining?


10) Undefeated

Earlier I spoke about an alternate universe. Often I think THIS is actually the alternate universe. I read the standings and see the Celtics on top of the league. I mean how did this happen? They were 24-58 last season.

Somebody must know- what's the all time record for greatest increase in wins from one season to the next? Because whatever it is that record is in serious jeopardy.


Bonus thing) Since the beginning of preseason, with all 5 starters playing the Celtics are 11-0.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

10 things with the season underway

Whoa what a performance that was. 3-0 baby. You don't usually see a game decided that early, but the Nuggets just got skewered. When the normally skeptical Bob Cousy is all sunshine and flower petals you know it was a great night.

This is just going to be a fantastic year. Anyway, here's 10 things to ponder:


1) The Nutmeg Jinx

Now that the team is good again, do you ever wonder why they were so bad for so long? It could have been due to more than just mismanagement— likely all that losing was directly caused by the greatly underpublicized Nutmeg Jinx. Well, here and now I'm lifting the information blackout on this pernicious curse.

In the 1989-90 season the Boston Celtics played their final regular season game in Hartford, Connecticut. For many years the Celtics had used Hartford as a satellite home site, hosting a few games there each year. After that season the team pulled out, never to return again. Little did they realize that in doing so they awakened powerful and angry spirits from their neighboring state, because from that time forward the Celtics played consistently bad basketball. That is until now.

So what happened to diffuse the hex? Actually it was very simple: this June the Celtics traded for UCONN luminary Ray Allen, and in a single moment the great jinx of Connecticut vanished. The Seattle deal served as an instant exorcism. Since the draft day trade nothing has gone wrong for the team. It opened the door for Kevin Garnett...


2) Value Added

...and it added guys like Eddie House, Scot Pollard, and James (3 point dagger) Posey for "free" (free- meaning no picks or players were given up to get these guys). With the vindictive spirits of Hartford placated, the CT Jinx turned upside down. Once Allen and KG arrived lots of players suddenly wanted to follow. In essence the Celtics traded Jefferson, Gomes, West, Szczerbiak, Green, a bunch of empty shells, and a few picks for Garnett, Posey, Pollard, House, Glen Davis, and the jinx-busting talisman himself, Ray Allen.

In case you're wondering— No, Travis Knight doesn't count and Vin Baker doesn't count either. They only made the Nutmeg spirits even more irate. Only the pure Huskie goodness of Ray Allen could break the wicked spell.


3) Double Teams and Title Dreams

Quality is great. You obviously need it to win a title, but if you get quality AND quantity something magical happens. (Hey this is another "value added" subject. I think there's a theme going.)

The Celtics have three uberstars. That opens up a world of possibilities over having only one or two top players. For example, if you're Houston the opposition can double team McGrady or Yao whenever they want. There's always a lesser player to sag off. With Boston it's not possible. It's just a matter of numbers. You need six defenders to double team three guys at once, and according to close interpretation of the NBA rulebook, having six players on the floor at one time is illegal.

Wait there's more: When one of your three is Kevin Garnett, you don't HAVE to double team on the defensive end yourself. Think about Dallas or San Antonio. They love having you double team Nowitzki or Duncan, because it tears huge holes in your defense. But Garnett can play either of those formidable Texans straight up. With Garnett doing his thing, the team defense remains intact, and because of that Boston could beat those guys. Yes I said it.


4) The Fork In The Road

What if the Celtics kept the 5th pick? I mean aside from still having the Nutmeg Jinx in full raging operation, this would have remained a young, developing team.
Personally, I can't quite let go of the old-young guys. I find myself checking the box scores from every Supersonics and Timberwolves games to see how Al, Ryan, Delonte and Gerald are doing. I saw Minnesota fall just short against the Knicks and thought, "That very easily could have been us." I bet there are plenty of other Celtics fans with a compulsive thing for Seattle and Minnesota.


5) That Old Time Feeling

It's SOOOooo great to be hated again. Everywhere you go on the internet, people hate the Celtics. Ancient animosities have been reawakened and new ones have been born. It's just like the good old days! In this league you can tell you have a team when everyone despises you. I'm so happy.


6) Bad Breaks, Who Cares?

For many years if anything went wrong in a game, the Celtics lost. This year even if a lot of bad things happen, the Celtics can still win. In Toronto they faced a good team, on the road, who had been playing fabulously. Pierce had an off night. Three starters got into severe foul trouble. Rondo had his worst game ever. Guess what? They won anyway! They overcame everything and made their own breaks. That's what winning teams do.


7) Paul Pierce's Hidden Value

(More value added.) One reason Shaq's teams historically have won big was that despite his own atrocious free throw shooting, he always drew so many fouls. As a result his club regularly got into the free throw bonus early in most quarters. This allowed his teammates to get many extra foul shots.

The same is true of Paul Pierce. He draws so many fouls driving to the basket that this Celtics team will benefit in the same way. It's a huge advantage. Don't forget, free throwing should be an enormous strength now with sharpshooters like Ray Allen, Eddie House and others aboard.


8) Doc's Altered Role

Since Doc River's arrived he's mostly had a very young team and has spent much of his energy during every game, teaching. During timeouts you'd always see him pulling a young player aside and explaining what he did right or wrong. This year with the tadpoles mostly bench-bound, Doc has been coaching, not just educating.


9) Your Reward Is Fluff

Another sign that the team has arrived: Comcast has added a fluffy magazine show on the Celtics. Um- woohoo? I would file this under the category of: Harmless.
By the way, I thought Laura Behnke did very well filling in for Gary Tanguay last Sunday. (I mean its not like Gary is a great student of the game, being distracted all the time by the baseball and football guys.) All any host has to do on that pregame show is toss scripted questions to Donny Marshall and "send it back to Mike and Tommy." Still, good for her.


10) People I Wish Were Alive To See This Season:

Red Auerbach, Johnny Most (no disrespect to Sean Grande, but I'd LOVE to hear Johnny calling this team's games), Dennis Johnson, and Doc River's dad. It's a shame Grady Rivers couldn't have stuck around one more year to watch his son really succeed as a coach.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

A Trade Too Far

A Trade Too Far

There's virtually no chance of Boston trading for Kobe, but recent rumors have vaguely connected the Celtics to the temperamental one. That's one wacky notion. I mean who came up with this idea, Salvador Dali? Even though it's far-fetched, the mind has been sent spinning so here we go:

Trading Shaq to Miami hasn't worked out too well, has it? The entire backdrop of Laker championships is based on flagrant larceny of other cities' giant centers. They weaseled Wilt from Philadelphia, kleptoed Kareem from Milwaukee, and shuttled Shaq out of Orlando. (Plus they moved Mikan's banners from Minneapolis.) Only after having their pilfered behemoth in tow did the the diabolical purple and gold ever succeed. So when they traded away Mr. O'Neal instead of Mr. Bryant they went against their entire sordid history.
...and now they're paying the price.

Kobe wants out. The Lakers want something substantial back. Many teams have been linked to these stories including Boston. Oh I'm sure Danny Ainge has spoken to Mitch Kupchak. In fact I'm sure everybody has talked to everybody about everybody at one time or another, but I highly doubt any Celtic/Laker discussions regarding Kobe Bryant have ever gotten serious.

First off the Lakers would want too much. It would start with Paul Pierce and then you'd have to add at least Rajon Rondo, if not Rondo AND Ray Allen. That's too high a cost for someone with so much potential for instability. I could see LA going for it because they're not going to get anything better, but Boston has no urgent need to make that swap.

Let's just be patient here and see what the Celtics have. A trade like this could easily be one too many. Let the Lakers do whatever they will. While Boston is testing the parameters of their new might, the disintegration in Los Angeles will be an entertaining sideshow.

There's another lesson in all this: If any of you are thinking of betting your franchise on a volatile, unpredictable, high-strung fellow, please remember to NOT give him a trade veto.

...I almost forgot to add: Heh heh heh.



No Second Unit

From Mark Spear's article in the 10/31 Globe: "Rivers hopes Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce will play fewer than 40 minutes per game, but would like at least two on the floor at all times, and one 'is almost mandatory.'"

Very good. There will very rarely be five subs playing together at the same time, not until the game is determined. That means the worst team the Celtics will ever have on the floor this season will be equal to the best team they ever had on the floor in 06-07. If things get hairy for the back-ups, you just reinsert another all star. Isn't life grand?

If you're the coach and you need to turn to someone resting on the bench and say, "Get in there and change the momentum," who would you rather it be: Ray Allen or Allan Ray? That's last year versus this year in a nutshell.


Scheduled In Advance

Before the lottery, I think the league might have had "San Antonio and Duncan versus Whoever Gets Oden" pencilled in as the season's introductory game. Fate wrecked that tantalizing debut and so the first game of the season was the powerful Spurs against the talented but not-yet-ready Oregonians. I'm sure if they had it to do over again it would have been SA/Boston.
LaMarcus Aldridge sure looked good offensively though.


Eastern Teams Worth Eyeballing...

...as far as how they match up with the Celtics. I'm not too worried about Orlando no matter how good Dwight Howard looks, because Perkins routinely seems to be able to slow him down. Cleveland has big problems. Miami might be good enough, but they have those health issues. I don't worry about Jersey or Washington because our big three are bigger than their big three. (So there.)

Until Miami stops limping, here are the teams I think match up well against the Celtics and could give them problems on any given night: Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto.

Detroit is polished, about as good as ever, and when they click they can beat anyone.
Chicago is one of the very few teams that has hope of covering Pierce and Ray Allen straight up, one on one. Deng has always bothered Pierce, and the same for Hinrich on Allen. Still Kevin Garnett has historically shredded the Bulls, so unless Tyrus Thomas and Noah develop quickly, Boston should still have a big advantage inside. Boston against Chicago is my co-most-anticipated contest, along with San Antonio.
Toronto, with their outside shooting is just one of those quirky teams that can clobber you when they're hitting from long range. Bargnani is really hard to cover out there, and Bosh takes Garnett's attention leaving the sharpshooting Italian free to hoist them at will. Like Chicago they're young and deep. They're not finalist level yet, but the Raptors are worth watching.

Add a vigorous Miami and there are four or five teams that could come out of the East. The only guarantee for the Celtics this season is the one they forge themselves. This will be fun— maybe 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's caliber fun.


A Modest Man

Danny Ainge has spent a lot of time answering big 3 questions, contrasting the new trio to the legendary 80s troika. Again and again he's stated that Larry, Kevin and Robert had great help, citing DJ, Sichting, Maxwell, Walton and Wedman, while never mentioning a certain #44.

The modesty is admirable but c'mon Danny, knock it off. You were hell on wheels yourself. We can only wish the current team had circa 1986 Danny Ainge playing on it.


Oh Yeah, There Was A Game Friday Night

Ooooh, very nice. With numerous Celtic greats looking on, the new Green Machine smoked Washington. The Celtics were poised and powerful.

Doc River's rotation patterns were flawless, resting Pierce early, then inserting him back in with the subs to lead the second quarter charge. Scot Pollard didn't have his wind but he did still have his height, sparing Garnett from going it alone down low while Perkins sat. Rondo was brought back in at just the right moment to control the pace. The few times the Wizards did manage to capture the some momentum, Doc squashed it with a timeout. Pierce sliced, Ray Allen glided, Garnett thundered, and the raucous Garden crowd went home satisfied.

The scary thing is, I thought the Celtics only scraped the surface of how good they can be.