Once again, affording you the finest C's coverage from start to finish, so everyone relax. The C's start this game with an eye toward future talent. Expect the C's to give significant minutes to youngsters. And expect fans to get up about it. First game in the TD Banknorth Garden, and so far, I like it. Let's see how the young'uns react. Mike and Tommy warmin' us up, and here we go.
Blount is absolutely eating Chandler's lunch. Great stuff. No offense for the Bulls whatsoever. And the C's D looks sharp. Love Delonte's play so far, he's heads up, he's smart, and he can score. I'm thrilled. Everybody's got active hands. Everybody's playing heads up, and everybody's resisting turning the ball over. Great news.
Kirk Hinrich actually had a defender on him...which is different. The Bulls look so much different when he can't get wherever he wants. Great quarter for Pierce, Gomes, Ricky, and especially Blount.
Game Summary Boston, we have a problem. If one were to take tonight?s game as a sign of the future, the celts are going to have big issues at the point. In the beginning, there was Delonte West, and as long as Pierce was on the floor, West looked ok. But as soon as Pierce checked out, there wasn?t a man on the court that could create a shot, and West didn?t seem to want to take any. (Note to all concerned: I do not expect anyone to be in mid-season rhythm.) Then there were the turnovers because West thought he HAD to pass. Delonte did have a couple good weak side rebounds, which he will generally contribute. His defense was middling, with a few too many touch fouls, and over running on picks or screens. Without Marcus Banks around, only Orien Greene seemed capable of breaking the press. West got trapped at half-court for turnovers three separate times. And the hobbit, Dan Dickau, showed little to impress. He was terrified to both shoot and pass, so throwing him the ball was as good as throwing it away. When he did pass, it was usually to a man that had nowhere to go. Because no one but Pierce and Davis can create shots, passes to well defended forwards on the wings are dangerous. In transition Dickau seemed to be struck with hysterical blindness, which lead to some truly horrific drives to the hoop. Also Dickau?s defense was execrable, as usual. Pierce, however, was a breath of fresh air. He looked like a player, and not a grumpy old curmudgeon. The three?s were coming in rhythm, his mid range jumper was good if he was open, and if it wasn?t he drove with it and got fouled. Pierce?s defense started a little low intensity and picked up later. He also rebounded well, but no surprises there. I like Ricky Davis, but he?s not a good passer, and he shows his dribble too much. Welcome to turnover land. The streaky jumper can also make him one of the most frustrating players on the team. He seemed well motivated on D though, and quick to pick off passes. The Gomes/Reed combo platter was a bit more uneven than usual in this game. Gomes rebounded well, and he seemed to have a great handle on the passing lanes. Neither of the two of them did anything too amazing on man defense, and their respective shooting was very, very bad. Part of this was poor shot selection due to attempts to create shots without a real point guard. Their respective places on this team were definitely not cleared up by this game, although Gomes has made me into a supporter. Brian Scalabrine cannot be on the court at the same time as Dan Dickau. Don?t get me wrong, this isn?t a racial thing, but someone has to defend. The whole team can?t just be standing under the basket trying to take charges. Scalabrine can?t shoot, defend, rebound, pass, or dribble. As long as he doesn?t have to do anything of those things, he?ll be fine. Also, his pre-game interview, which closed with him saying that he was the top ?fast break man for his position? may be the most hilarious moment of the season so far. Five Years and $15 million for this? Is that a joke? Kendrick was Kendrick. You know him right? Good rebounding, good man defense, ticky tack fouls and slow rotations. Raef was much the same, passive as usual. He?s good, I know he?s good, but how come I can never remember anything he does? Gerald Green was fun tonight, and a little more confident. I like his side-spin jumpshot, it?s a lot like mine (Wait, that?s bad. I still like it anyway.) He?s still lost and slow on defense, but that behind the backboard lay up means things to come. The absolute best thing about the whole game was Mark Blount. His numbers aren?t amazing, just a double-double, but it was the little things: Effort rebounds on both ends, some real man defense, and some awesome high post passes (It makes me wonder what he and Al could do in the High-Low together.) He did get a little over zealous with the passing, but I think I can handle that if he?s willing to come out play hard. He?s got the size, he can shoot a little, and his hands aren?t bad. And no, he has no post moves, so what? As a team, the celts were only really strong in the first quarter, and it wasn?t even really a lot of running. Pierce was going into the half-court sets well because the Bulls weren?t trapping, as soon as they did, West started to get stuck and slow things down. The Celts transition defense was mostly poor, and they tended to swarm to men the post, leaving the weak side wide open for the likes of Eric Piatkowski and his jump shooting ilk. I believe this team will win some guys when it?s hale and hearty, but right now there is little rhythm (this shows especially in transition) and the team just needs time together. However, keep in mind that the same thing applies to virtually every other team in the league. Pierce is still the Truth, and we have a chance as long as we have him. DID YOU HEAR THAT DANNY? AS LONG AS WE HAVE PIERCE, WE CAN WIN GAMES.
I'm finally willing to agree that Paul Pierce is the savior of this franchise, but only on conditions. He needs some good passing around him, especially, it seems, from unexpected sources (Blount). He needs help on the offensive boards, and not from big men, because they can't occupy the same space at the same time (West). He needs smart coaching that encourages him to play to his strengths and hustle up and down the floor on every play (Doc, finally). Lastly, he also needs a corps of young players he likes and is willing to teach the game to (the entire second unit). If there is only one player that seems to encourage me beyond all the rest, it's either Ryan Gomes or Justin Reed. These guys seem to have a nose for just about everything a 2-4 needs to have. And as for my rotten brother, Danny Ainge knows this, and cease knocking him for trying to trade Pierce, because as far as any one of us knows, he hasn't even tested the waters. There has been talk after talk after talk about Ainge moving him, and not once has he said "well, we've been exploring this option, and hopefully we'll get face value for him." He hasn't once confirmed a story of a specific example of him trying to move Paul. And you know what? Call me naive, but I believe him. Anyway, the point guards were again discouraging, West fouled too much, listening to the interview with Banks made me wonder if he has any idea how much trouble his career is in, Dickau is quite literally worthless (although, for the first time in a C's uniform, we watched him hit a catch and shoot jumper, huzzah!), and Orien Greene still looks raw. But taking a look at that last sentence, I realize, if that's the worst I can say about Orien Greene, he should be the second man into that spot. I truly believe that Orien Greene has played the best point guard of the last three games. He looks especially sharp knowing that he was nowhere near ready to face NBA competition at the start of camp. Obviously, Doc and Danny have found someone they like. It's unfortunate about Bynum, but let's face it, there's no room for that man on our team. Anyway, I enjoyed not having to watch six (I'm not even capitalizing his name anymore) come out and play for any stretch, that wasn't so bad, although when I see Scalabrine play for any longer than seven seconds, I call his name loudly at the television, in the hope that Doc hears me, and will replace Veal with anyone else on the bench. He's just plain terrible. Speaking of television, anyone notice that the camera angle is considerably higher than it was last year. It appears they want more of the court in a wide shot, than they were getting. I don't know, just something I picked up on.
