<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Surrounded by a handful of writers, he measured his words, processing questions before giving answers. He doesn't seem to want to make a big deal out of it, but you get the sense that Friday night's game against the Portland Trailblazers is a big deal for Sebastian Telfair. A Portland writer gave him every opportunity to say that the he had something to prove, but Bassy wouldn't bite. "They had a decision to make. The had me, who wanted to play an up-tempo game, and they had Zach [Randolph], who is a great player also," Telfair said after practice Thursday. "They made their decision, I've moved on and I'm happy where I'm at. It'll be pretty cool to go up against them. We all know each other, we're friends." Telfair says he's watched a few of Portland's games this season already, and remarked that he's happy for his friend Travis Outlaw, who's playing well early in the season. Acquired along with Theo Ratliff in a draft night deal that sent Raef LaFrentz (who isn't traveling with the Blazers - left calf injury), Dan Dickau and the #7 pick to Portland, Telfair is quietly having a nice season himself. Eight games into the year, Telfair is averaging 9.5 PPG and 3.5 APG, while improving his shooting and cutting down on his turnovers. His assists to turnover ratio (2.8) is good for #15 in the NBA, and he had an efficient seven points and six assists in just under 20 minutes in Wednesday's win over the Pacers. As for adjusting to the Celtics style after playing a slow-down, half-court pace in Portland, Telfair says that Boston's offense is more suited to his talents, and knowing what to do in the floor is simple. "It's not that difficult, you've got Paul on one side, Wally on the other. Drive the basketball and kick it to them, and the shot will go in," Telfair said. Doc Rivers said that after two tough games to start the season when he was just trying to 'play safe', Telfair has come on and stepped up his game. While Telfair still has room to grow, his shooting is definitely better than advertised - just under 47% on field goals and 42% on threes -- and he's improving defensively. Rivers felt Wednesday's game was the first '48 minute game by our point guards', and he pointed to Telfair's on-the-ball defense in the backcourt as a key to the victory over Indiana. Ultimately, Telfair's defense will be the key to his overall improvement and maintaining his role as the starting point guard. "Each game he's gotten better, but I think he's starting to see that if he doesn't, he wont play," said Rivers. "We have to make the other teams use clock. If we're allowing teams to start their offense with 20 seconds left, that's going to hurt us. Our guards have to pressure the ball. They have to." Rivers feels that because Telfair and Rondo are undersized, they have to start attacking opposing guards in the backcourt to cut down on the time that they can use their size against them in the half-court set. Gerald: Green No Longer? When it comes to his rotation, Rivers has made a few tweaks as of late, the biggest one being that Gerald Green is now getting the call off the bench over Tony Allen, mostly because of two things: Green has a more consistent outside shot, and he's not turning the ball over. "We're going with Gerald right now. Tony's going to find his way back on the floor eventually. But Gerald's playing well, and Tony just has to keep working on his game," Rivers said. "Tony's turning the ball over, and Gerald is smart enough not to put himself in turnover positions. When he doesn't have a shot right now he's just passing the ball." In the past, Green's been considered something of a defensive liability on the floor, but he's progressed by leaps and bounds over the offseason and through training camp, giving Rivers the freedom to leave him on the floor for extended minutes. According to Rivers, Green has a much better grasp on the game plan and his responsibilities within the scheme. In fact, if anything, Rivers thinks Green may not be trusting his instincts enough at times and deferring instead to how plays or schemes are drawn up. "That will come, so I'm not worried about that," Rivers said. Olowokandi Ailing According to Rivers, Michael Olowokandi is "probably out" for Friday's game with a strained abdominal muscle. After practice, Rivers said that he must have sustained the injury during Wednesday night's game. Olowokandi, who had four points, four rebounds and a block in 10 minutes against the Pacers, will have an MRI today and is listed as "day-to-day".</div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">44Thrilla Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hell yeah! Break out the weed.</div> hehe yeah. I wonder if Bassy will take a ride through Chelsea with some of his old boys and burn down a fat one for old time sake.
<div class="quote_poster">olskoolFunktitude Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> hehe yeah. I wonder if Bassy will take a ride through Chelsea with some of his old boys and burn down a fat one for old time sake.</div> And he can get arrested for being black on a Friday night, like Dee Brown back in the day. A black man in Beacon Hill? Beat his brains in!
I hope everyone witnessed that slaughter. That was quite the game. In the second half, Portland looked like a bunch of smoked up high schoolers. Maybe they were doing their best 'Basketball Diaries' re-enactment. All told, the second unit looked stellar, and Portland's defense lived up to its legendary reputation. Great game. If I didn't know any better, I would say Doc handled himself better in this game, although he made a rookie mistake by making a big deal out of the non-call on Wally's hard foul. As soon as those refs got the chance, they hit the C's with one. He should know better, I mean, West got the ball for God's sake.
Ah, lets put the not so good Portland trailblazers aside and call that a great win! We will take a win from just about anybody at this point. The Celts look good on all fronts. It was good to see Pierce get some rest in the fourth and not have to worry about running right back in because the team was blowing the lead. Seeing Pierce and Wally cheering on their teammates on the sideline is a sight for sore eyes. West played well, as well as Gomes, not too much offense for Gomes but a stellar defensive performance.
I didn't get to see the game, but I heard Grande and Max on the way home from work. It sounded like we were playing well in the late third - fourth quarter. Seemed like Delonte was on fire, at one point scoring 13 straight points or something like that. It was definitely a solid victory, but still not enough to get me excited about the season, in general.
^ yes it was deff a great third and fourth quarter run. West WAS on fire, he was making every shot. Ray even got to get some minutes! It really was a good overall game.
Great win, but from now on whenever the Cs get a huge late game lead I'm scared because of the Cleveland game. Just like the game on Wednesday I was scared.
<div class="quote_poster">cMac44111 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Great win, but from now on whenever the Cs get a huge late game lead I'm scared because of the Cleveland game. Just like the game on Wednesday I was scared.</div> Too true ! Lets hope that type of stuff is over and done with.
<div class="quote_poster">44Thrilla Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I didn't get to see the game, but I heard Grande and Max on the way home from work. It sounded like we were playing well in the late third - fourth quarter. Seemed like Delonte was on fire, at one point scoring 13 straight points or something like that. It was definitely a solid victory, but still not enough to get me excited about the season, in general.</div> maybe not EXCITED per se. but a lot better than a couple days ago. back-to-back 25+ point blowout wins are a good sign no matter who they come against. If they can claw their way back to .500 by the end of this month or early December I'll be willing to give this team a fresh start and get exited again. regardless of how much you choose to read in to it, watching them win like that is incredibly fun.
I disagree on the Gomes front there Queeny, Gomes looked like rubbish. That big fat baby (Randolph) tossed him around like his plaything, and Gomes got extremely frustrated. He was alright in the first half, but Powe was the better player on this night, and he showed it. Yes, Powe had five fouls, but he used them well, wrapped up and made Babyface earn it at the line. Gomes pretty much just let him get under his skin, and as a result, didn't play a particularly good game.
but, Squishface! Doc Rivers said first thing in his postgame press conf that the most important player of the game was ryan Gomes becuse of the defense he played. you wouldnt accuse Doc of being wrong would you?
<div class="quote_poster">Squishface Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I disagree on the Gomes front there Queeny, Gomes looked like rubbish. That big fat baby (Randolph) tossed him around like his plaything, and Gomes got extremely frustrated. He was alright in the first half, but Powe was the better player on this night, and he showed it. Yes, Powe had five fouls, but he used them well, wrapped up and made Babyface earn it at the line. Gomes pretty much just let him get under his skin, and as a result, didn't play a particularly good game.</div> Ah well in my eyes, he stayed out of foul trouble and gaurded Randolph pretty well. As only a second year guy I thought he did a decent job of defending Randolph, who is a good scorer. He was wrestling with him the entire time and got a little tired around the end of the third. But fot the most part made it so the team did not have to double Randolph. But thats only my opinion, lol.
