Sorry for the late start, looks like Big Al has just checked in for the first time this postseason, and he's been outmanned on the boards twice so far, in about the first minute, but he looks capable on rotations, so that's encouraging. Raef looks his steady self, and Blount showed a little post move there, that was exciting. On the other side of the ball, Calderon looks real sharp, and that's great, I wish the best for that guy. Delonte looks good on D too, so this is fun game so far.
So the C's close the first quarter very well. A 7-0 run sparked by Big Al's play and it's 23-17. Right alongside Mark Blount (that's pronounced BLUNT, we learned tonight), who's been solid tonight, even on defense. I'm so excited about this team now, it's been a blast watching the things we needed to work, work. Allen will be a little bit of a blow, but he's not irreplaceable, and he won't be gone long anyway. I just hope his surgery went off well. Pierce looks great, as usual, and I'm warming up to Delonte. I'll be a little upset if Dickau doesn't get significant minutes tonight, because if he doesn't, we haven't had one good, solid look at him all preseason. The closest thing would be the Cavs game, and that was no indicator of his real play. I haven't seen much offense from Toronto yet, but I've only caught about 7 minutes. Lineups are CV31, Mo Pete, James, Woods, and Graham vs. Green, Greene, Gomes, Perk, and Big Al. Fun to watch all the youngsters out there at the same time. So far they don't look all bad. Refs are calling a mighty tight game, and neither coach is much enjoying it. We'll see how that plays out.
I cannot stand when the refs go wild with the whistle, especially in a preseason game. This is the only chance coaches have to evaluate their young players and figure out who's going to make the 14 man roster and who's going to make the DLeague. Maybe they should change to the summer league rules, where players cannot foul out.
Half time and for you Raps fans, you can be excited about Graham. He looks as solid as any rookie I've seen, so that's a great thing. Orien looks sharp too, ever since that Cavs game, he's been phenomenal. That was an ugly second quarter, as neither team seemed capable of scoring anything, but it was a fun watch to see where the rookies stood offensively, which was not such a great showing, but oh well. Anyway, decent half for both teams, the Raps seem to be suffering even worse than the C's at the Center position, which is hard to believe. This was best personified when Woods missed two dunks in about a ten second span. Araujo, as usual, is fouling like crazy, which seems to have spread to the Celtics big men, who can't keep their hands off of the Raps' slashers.
Hey Crywalker- How did we learn that it's "BLUNT"? I just tuned in and Mike and Tommy keep saying it....and for some reason I find it hilarious.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 44Thrilla:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey Crywalker- How did we learn that it's "BLUNT"? I just tuned in and Mike and Tommy keep saying it....and for some reason I find it hilarious.</div> It's just like you pronounce Corie or Roy Jrs' names. Spelled the same, said the same. Anyway, the story is a funny one, Tommy and Mike were in line with Mark in customs at the airport, and the Canadian customs agent asked him what his last name was and he said "Blunt (ph.)." Mike was shocked, he asked him if that was really how he pronounced his name and Mark that he didn't want to say anything. Needless to say, he was in a hurry to correct the mistake, and it looks like they're doing a good job of it. Anyway, third quarter was disappointing, again no offense, and now Dan Dickau is out screwing up whatever rythym we may have had. That's okay though, the Raps aren't exactly capitalizing. Everyone's kind of just laughing at the refs now, they've turned this game into a joke, they just blow the whistle for everything. When they nailed Graham for baskethanging, which was a good call, I knew we were dealing with some jerks. Whistles on every drive, and the C's don't want to take advantage. Toronto's up by seven because they take it to the hoop and get the call every time out, that's called playing with smarts, our alternative is to take dumb pot shots from the three point line with guys that have no business hoisting them (Justin Reed anyone?). Anyway, Al's missing his layups and Borchardt is doing the bulk of the boardwork, so this unit is very obviously lacking. Just watched our second phantom call of the last ten seconds, and now I'm a little PO'd. Good point Shape, these refs need to get with the program, you aren't earning your pay by ruining young teams, so get off the floor. P.S. Scalabrine is terrible. P.P.S. Orien Greene appears to run the best break of the C's points.
I really agree with you on Greene. He's #2 on my depth chart now, and I think we know why Doc has been hyping him up. Except for a few things here and there, this seemed like a huge joke of a game tonight. Didn't get to watch it too intensely, though.
Hey, I couldn't watch the game because some relatives were over. (again) What are the Celt's fans impressions of Graham? Is he as good as advertised on defense? How about Villanueva and Bosh on the floor at the same time? Is it working out well or does it need a lot of work?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey, I couldn't watch the game because some relatives were over. (again) What are the Celt's fans impressions of Graham? Is he as good as advertised on defense? How about Villanueva and Bosh on the floor at the same time? Is it working out well or does it need a lot of work?</div> I'd say Graham was everything advertised and more. He was intense. Offensively he was stellar, defensively he was all right, but he was giving up easy buckets to Veal, so facing up a big man on mismatches looked like a problem, but I wouldn't write him off whatsoever. Bosh and CV31 played a little bit at the same time, and I would say that Bosh's game tonight was just a shadow of what he's usually worth, so I wouldn't even count this game. He really seemed to be uninterested in tonight's game. And Mitchell helped him pull that off too, he pretty much sat him for most of the game. Again, their play together cannot be stated too clearly from what I've seen, but an encouraging game for the Raps all around, they played very well.
