CelticsBlog

by the way RR does a great Gary Peyton....love that...

SLO-MO TOWN

Easy baskets when the big guys run,
Wilcox’s hallmark to start Q1.
Worried about Pietrus, they said he wouldn’t play,
Listen to me, not the media he did say.

Mentoring youth, a major project for Bill Russell,
In the House tonight to watch the Cs hustle.
Rondo delivered as he flew coast to coast,
Wilcox was with him, took advantage the most.

7 free throws attempted Q1 by Ray,
Two steals, one block, threw the ball away.
Not much of a stat line for the Captain— P,
Q2 Dooling came in, long time no see.

JaJuan Johnson has a variety of shot,
Of course we saw what Ben Gordon’s got.
Bradley, Dooling playing great D,
Wilcox has 10, Cs up 2 to start Q3.

JO took a charge, there was an alley-oop to be fond o’
Good play by Wilcox on the pass from Rondo.
One thing Tommy clearly didn’t think was ducky,
Was the good game played by the Pistons’ Stuckey.

Q3 Rondo is playing at both ends inspired,
Help from Dooling, Wilcox, Johnson; Pierce seems tired.
Because of the Ps offense, or the Cs lack of speed,
To end Q3 Pistons one point lead.

Monroe, Gordon, Stuckey playing lights out,
Pierce connected in the fourth after a very long drought.
35 points for Rondo, tied his career high,
It’s the rest of the Cs make me want to cry.

The Cs played zone to confuse the other team,
The clock is against the Cs or so it would seem.
Three times in his whole career no field goals for Ray,
Finally got one at the end of the game today.

mycelts - February 15, 2012 reply

For some reason

I don’t like Rondo taking 27 shots. He had a good game. But All those shots for 35 pts.

he would've had a lot more assists if anyone aside from Wilcox and Johnson could knock down shots

27 shots probably is a bit too much, but its not like Paul or Ray were looking for their shots much tonight anyways. someone had to pick up the slack

Jeff had a comment about Ray's almost Egg

But 5 shots isn’t enough to qualify for and egg.

Or if anyone could move to a place to catch a pass and shoot

Jeeze, other than Rondo and those two guys, it looked like the entire team was walking around with 50 lb shoe laces …

I disagree

OKC would be ridiculously good with Rondo instead of Westbrook. imagine him with all those high flyers

+1

BB4 - February 15, 2012 reply

Me too

Westbrook, now there’s a baller for you. DA already tried, ha

Sam Levin - February 16, 2012 reply

I'd take Rondo over Westbrook

As far as their overall value to a team. Westbrook is a better scorer, Rondo is a better facilitator and has a higher IQ.

BlackMass - February 16, 2012 reply

but he hit 15 of those 27

and hit the only 3-pointer he took. Anyone hitting 50% or better of their shots is not the source of the problem on offense.

slamtheking - February 15, 2012 reply

Yes and he took almost all 'good' shots

he had his post move working down low and the jump shots he was taking were wide open looks.

This loss definitely wasn’t on Rondo.

Apparently KG, Pierce, and Allen were all out tonight...

Oh well, let’s hope we play better tomorrow night…

and yes, Ben Gordon is still shooting threes

EF37 - February 15, 2012 reply

anyone who says this is a warning sign not to build around/with Rondo is crazy

even bottom-feeding teams expect some production out of positions aside from point guard and power forward

what would it take to get monroe

two first round picks two second round picks bradley and greg?

RONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he can low post tooo though lost

GO C’S

Another bad loss

Blow it up now?

hahahaha

2-4 road trip coming up at best

And will fall to the 8th seed.

Solid games on offense from JJ and Wilcox tonight and Rondo very aggressive. As for ray and Pierce, it was like they werent at the game. I am starting to see dysfunction on this team. I know KG was out, but the Pistons are terrible and you can’t lose to them at home. The big man defense was terrible.

are you a psychic ?

Yes. No, just making a prediction

Why?

What do you mean, why? I expect them two win two games on this trip

So I am posting that. It’s a blog for posting opinions, I think.

vinnie - February 16, 2012 reply

No. Why do you make these predictions?

I know you are not the only one. ‘Not singling you out. I just don’t get the necessity.

I don't know. I thought the point of places like this was to post opinions. Maybe I am completely wrong

vinnie - February 16, 2012 reply

BLOW IT UP!!!

once again.

SparzWizard - February 15, 2012 reply

hahah time for the blow it up bandwagon

Way to go Doc

Take out CW and JJ, 13-24 w/27 pts and 14 rbs, and put in PP,RA,JO, and MP who are combined 3-20, with 6 min to go.
Well I have to revise my prediction on the next 20 games(including tonite) from 4-16 to 3-17! Thought tonite was a sure win, even with KG out! Oh, well, on to next year!

OhioGreen - February 15, 2012 reply

Rivers Line-up Magic!

Tenacious D - February 15, 2012 reply

Wow. Great Rondo got his career high, but 27 shots for him really is nuts

we were saying he wasnt agressive infu so i gss he showed everyone

Do you recon Rondo goes on Celticsblog?

I mean, if I was an NBA star I would be heaps tempted to go on and see whats going on. Do you recon he reads the ‘Trade Rondo’ / ‘Cant shoot’ posts and goes “stuff these guys, I’ll show them”

+1

Really strange, on one hand Ray and Pierce did nothing so at least Rondo was aggressive.

Rondo did remind me of what Kobe has done in the past, when he was criticized for not passing he would go an entire half without shooting just to prove a point. Watching Rondo take 27 shots to score 35 points was reminiscent of an Allen Iverson game.

Can’t help but think something is going on with this team behind the scenes and it definitely isn’t good…

warnerjohn - February 15, 2012 reply

Roger that

Tenacious D - February 15, 2012 reply

Though

Most of his shots were good shots. It wasn’t like he was jacking up turnaround fadeaways… He was scoring everything from the post, the elbow-jumpshot, in the paint with layups. I actually wanted the Cs to go to him more down the stretch. Milk whatever is working.
A big reason we lost was our perimeter defense, Ray in particular. He lost his man way too many times off the picks which led to wide-open lay-ups or jumpshots. Not sure how to counter that, but was wondering if having avery in for Ray longer would’ve helped slowing down Stuckey, Bynum, and Gordon.

greysoul0614 - February 15, 2012 reply

But isn't that what everyone wants?

Everyone always whines that Rondo’s too passive. He doesn’t score enough. Well, these past 2 games he’s broken free from the leash so to speak. Looks like he’s made the decision to play his game, and he is for the first time in his career.

I don’t subscribe to the theory that there’s something going on behind the scenes. If anything, Rondo’s probably just sick & tired of getting ALL of the blame all the time. Its not his fault he’s stuck playing rec ball at the retirement home.

FREE RONDO. Unleash the beast, lol.

RJ87 - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

so why is that a problem?

he hit 15 of those 27. —> better than 50%. if he hits for that high a PG %, i don’t have a problem with him taking that many shots.

slamtheking - February 15, 2012 reply

Exactly. The _TEAM_ shot 44.2%.

Take away Rondo’s shooting and the rest of the team was pretty awful.

No one was moving at all, just standing around – Rondo rarely had anyone to pass to.

Doc's tirade and the team's post game meeting worked wonders! --- for ONE game

Another discouraging loss. Even with the Celtics being shorthanded it’s surprising they couldn’t beat the dreadful Detroit Pistons tonight. Detroit played last night and had won a grand total of 2 road games so far this season. Rondo was great in scoring but not defensively and Wilcox provided a spark but that was about it.

Hard to believe that Pierce and Ray were so dreadful even after having 2 days off to rest for this home game against a bad Detroit team. The offense once again collapsed in the 4th quarter. If a Celtics team with Ray, Paul, Rondo and a decent supporting cast can’t overcome a bad Detroit team at home after 2 days of rest then it spells trouble.

At this point it doesn’t matter whose fault it is - whether it’s more Doc, Rondo, Paul, Ray, KG injuries, age or whatever other reasons. Tonight is just another dreadful loss for the Celtics as they continue to disappoint.

Wasn’t it just 10 days ago where so many were saying how this team had turned the corner and were again among the elite teams of the NBA?

As Doc himself said after the Toronto debacle - there is NO EXCUSE for this effort…

warnerjohn - February 15, 2012 reply

well, he yelled mostly at Wilcox and JaJuan

they looked ok tonight
maybe Doc just needs to go after everyone else now LOL

Jeff Clark - February 15, 2012 reply

Er, Johnson was so bad on defense it was painful

johnson was not bad on defense he was playing out of position

I think JJ also had...

trouble with some defensive rotations tonight and was being picked off at times tonight.

But committing these mistakes and learning from them will be the only way he will learn not to commit them in the future, which will help make him a better player down the line.

thanks

I was afraid I might have some small silver lining tonight

good thing you were here to snuff that out

Jeff Clark - February 15, 2012 reply

LOL

Look at the Win/Loss record when Rondo is the leading scorer

I’d be willing to bet the team is at .500 or lower.

Taking the ball out of Ray & Pierce’s hands is never a good idea. Both need to develop a flow though the game & Rondo taking 27 shots stops that from happening.

LuckyNumber07 - February 15, 2012 reply

actually ur wrong when he been aggressive we havde losed only 2 games including this on and won 6.... 2 digit score assit or rebound

But LN07 said leading scorer

Nothing about being aggressive or assists or rebounds

Yep

5 shots for Ray in 32 minutes. Not enough, whats the point of having the greatest shooter of all time when he doesn’t shoot.

Dooling is not the answer. Bradley is offensively challenged. Cs are losing to a lame pistons team. Doc, would it kill you to put Moore in the game, maybe, just maybe?

jurrasicearl - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

i was thinking that so many times

seriously what is it going to take to play the guys that can play

before everyone jumps off the ledge

KG didn’t play. that’s kinda a big deal

Not against the Pistons

Um ... well, apparently yes.

Please. Detroit is horrendous and was playing the second night of a bck to back

No excuse for losing tonight. This team just isn’t that good.

and where does that conclusion leave you for our chances this year?

I predicted 38 wins and a first or second round out in the playoffs

However, at this time I think 38 wins will be difficult for them to rech.

Vinnie I defend you in here all the time.....but sometimes......LOL

What is wrong with what I Posted?

I don’t get it. I have stuck with my prediction all year. Obviously you think they are a much better team than I do.

I think you're right to be concerned about the team hitting .500

…because the rest of the schedule is a LOT tougher than it’s been. Things could get very ugly very soon. (And now there’s another team to contend with…. the Knicks.)

cut your wrists early I guess LOL...take care guys...Peace

Sorry I don't share your rosy outlook. I am not cutting any wrists. Play out the year an then rebuild.

38 Wins

JJ becomes the next Jeremy Lin in the playoffs and averages 25p 11r 3blocks per game and we win banner 18!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

I drink too much.

European NBA fan - February 16, 2012 reply

Agreed. 38 wins may be... rough.

This first half of the schedule was really in our favor and we couldn’t do anything with it.

I’ve said since earlier this season, this team doesn’t have enough to beat Miami or Chicago in a 7 game series, I’ve seen nothing to change my mind as of yet. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m right.

RJ87 - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

Slim to none

this team cannot compete with Miami or Chi (with a healthy Rose); better play out the season, no trades, maintain max cap space to pursue Howard for next year

gocanes1 - February 15, 2012 reply

Detroit is more inconsistent than terrible

They have a lot of losses, but do have some quality wins:
Against the Pacers, while the Pacers were looking like one of the best teams in the league.
Against the Magic, before the Magic meltdown.
Against the Trailblazers.
Against the Celtics.

But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be able to play some D against them.

What an awful 4th, eh?

Wilcox and Rondo did pick it up…. unfortunately, PP & Ray weren’t in their element.. so to speak. RR got 27 shots cos he was on attack mode and he had a green light to do so… It’s not as if the others were making shots… give him a break.

agreee ppl complain when he doesnt shot ppl complain when he shots..................

PP had a bad night, Ray was off, KG was gone, Bass was gone.....and JO can't play...so we blame RR?????????

someone had to shoot

might as well be the guy that was aggressive and making them

Jeff Clark - February 15, 2012 reply

yup agree jeff

agree

I thought RR showed a whole new aspect to his game tonight....I thought he was fantastic

AGREED

BB4 - February 15, 2012 reply

this love to blame everything on rondo is ridiculous

BB4 - February 15, 2012 reply

Teen Wolf!

he got aggressive and put up some numbers but they werent exactly coming out of the flow of the offense. To use a Simmons-ism, he went Teen-Wolf (Mambo) on us. Hard to say how much Rya-Paul were out of it and how much RR wasnt looking for them. Sorry, something seems amiss.

Tenacious D - February 15, 2012 reply

Very much agree with Tenacious D

+1

greysoul0614 - February 15, 2012 reply

Thank you, glad I'm not that only one

It’s hard for me to figure out how people manage to blame Rondo for a loss one week because he can’t shoot and then blame him for a loss the next week because he keeps hitting shots and doesn’t pass enough.

This loss was on poor team defense and Pierce and Ray struggling to score. It would have been better if Rondo tried to get them going earlier but he also can’t be expected to do everything. It’s not like Pierce or Allen were hot and Rondo kept hogging the ball. Not to mention that the shots he was taking were high percentage, posting up guards, layups, wide open jumpers.

BlackMass - February 16, 2012 reply

Well in this thread, I don't think anyone's blaming RR...

Disappointing loss.

The C’s had control of the game and should of won tonight but things just fell apart.

Considering KG was out I think if Pierce and Ray had more efficient nights the C’s would of won this game.
Rondo had a great game and did his part to try to get the C’s the win, but he could not carry the team alone.

I think Wilcox looked good tonight again and wished we could of gotten more from Pietrius.
I liked seeing both JJ and Steamer out on the floor together and seeing them get a good quality minutes tonight which I think can only help there growth and development.

A win tonight would of really helped send the C’s off on there very tough road trip on a good note, but it was not meant to be.

Lucky me, i dont have League Pass

APC - February 15, 2012 reply

Disappointed with Stiemsma

The Steamer finally got some playing time tonight and then looked like he had lead in hias shoes. Of course it was a long list of disappointments.

Old West Celtics Sox Fan - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

It is because Stiemsma should be in the D league

As leader of the Stiemsa fan club...lol

Though he did not play well tonight to help the team, I think at least the silver lining was that Steamer received quality playing minutes tonight which will only help him learn the NBA game and improve his game.

Is it just me

Or does anyone else feel there’s a correlation between Rondo’s 27 shots and 35 points and Pierce and Ray not being involved? I mean, Rondo had a great game, but do we want this to be his role? I think we’re much better off when he’s distributing.

your not alone

APC - February 15, 2012 reply

nop pp and ra took shot cont hit not hrr fault

he can't win for losing.....PP was not getting his shot off when he had the ball!

RR was great

but i would like him to get Allen and Pierce more involved early in the game,

APC - February 15, 2012 reply

PP did not seem overly ready to be involved in the game tonight and Ray Allen was just off

I will say I’ve been upset most of the season with Pierce looking to pass so much, and now I’m upset with Rondo shooting so much, so . . .

Was I the only one who thought we were winning by ten?

At least until the final quarter of course. I’m not going after Rondo. He played great.

Where were Ray and Paul, though? Where have they been? What’s going on with them?

Our defense sucked. It seemed every shot the Pistons took was going in.

Love JaJuan’s game!! Keep improving young fella! I want this guy tipo be our future PF.

Celticsdude - February 15, 2012 reply

to be our future PF

Celticsdude - February 15, 2012 reply

+1

Agree fully I want JJ to get a chance at being the C’s future #1 pick.
I hope he is not traded away as he does have trade value being young and talented and I assume teams will be calling Ainge about acquiring him.

Sorry meant to say future #1 power forward....LOL

+1 on Jajuan Johnson

Love watching him play and he’s got tons of potential. I’d like to see him stay with the Celtics too.

BlackMass - February 16, 2012 reply

I'll tell ya where Ray and Paul were

Watching Rondo!

I will give pierce a pass on a so-so game but

Is ray allen gonna contribute!? His defense has been trash lately and he struggles to get in double digit points…pierce, kg, allen and rondo should AT LEAST be able to chip in a minimum of 12-15 points EACH in EVERY game. Thats not too much to ask from 4 all star caliber players.

Ray Allen is allowed to have off games... His defense bad? I think he had 4 steals.... geesh

But he lost his man way too many times off picks

which led to the detroit guards having a huge night

greysoul0614 - February 15, 2012 reply

Thank you

Every time someone is raining on the celtics, its always rays man.

How can u score 15 pts on 5 shots?

Free throws

Did you look at the box Score

Lol, no

I didnt want to look at much involving this game

Interesting

You know what is funny - early in the season when the Celtics were struggling one of the main excuses here was a lack of training camp, incorporating new players into the system and those type of things.

Somehow the Knicks added Jeremy Lin to the starting lineup. Without Carmelo and Stoudemire for stretches of games and more importantly having a new PG without any significant time to prepare the Knicks have won 7 straight games.

Funny how other teams seem to overcome these type of obstacles but for the Celtics who have a top level coach and more proven veteran leaders than any other NBA team these obstacles are often seen as insurmountable…

warnerjohn - February 15, 2012 reply

Linsanity dishing out 13 assists in 24 minutes in a15 point win over the kings.

jurrasicearl - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

Anyone who blames Rondo tonight is nuts

As for Pierce, he seems to be regressing back to his early season performances.

I don't blame him for the loss

But I do feel he’s a big reason Paul and Ray weren’t involved. Had they been, that MAY have led to a win, but who knows. Ok, maybe I’m just a little bit nuts.

You're a little bit nuts.

If Paul hits more than 3 of his 11 shots, we may have won. Quite frankly, I don’t think him taking more shots would’ve made a difference, he just didn’t seem to be all that interested tonight.

RJ87 - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

Rondos fault

He needs to stop being so agressive and pass the damn ball like a true point guard….LOL

In terms of offense, I gotta call out PP on this one...

I mean… unless he has an injury that we don’t know of… he hasn’t been “himself” lately. It’s like the version of himself during the first few weeks of this season.

Ever since the game where he was trying to break Larry's record

show casing Rondo to all those GM's who say he has no offense

Rondo will be gone by mid-season

ForexPirate - February 15, 2012 reply

You know what? I kind of hope he is.

He should get a chance to play for a fanbase that appreciates him. He’s hasn’t had an opportunity to do so in his entire career. As long as he’s in Boston, he’ll always be the scapegoat.

RJ87 - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

PP is allowed to have off games as well .....he is in his 14th year ...yeah he was off and seemed lethargic but ...it happens

I agree

But I’m tired of the whole “he can have an off night” thing. I mean, it seems every game we lose we allow one or two or three players to have an off game. I want these guys to be as consistent as possible and win games, especially the young guys.

Old team. Tough season :S

Celticsdude - February 15, 2012 reply

I understand your point

but tonight, with KG out – really hurt for so many of the guys in uniform to all have an off night.

Still, at least Ray & Paul could hit FTs.

No one is even talking about the horrid free throw shooting – 19 for 32. Take away Ray’s 8 of 9 and Pierce’s 4 of 4 and the rest of the team shot 7 of 19 from the FT line.

That was killer.

Legitimate concern about making the playoffs

Given how well the new-look Knicks are playing now, and Philly, Indiana, Orlando all doing well… I think the Celtics need to start worrying about making the playoffs at all, let alone go deep. They’ve had a couple of brilliant games, but fall apart too often…. and the remainder of the schedule is MUCH tougher than it’s been. Future looking pretty grim…..

Btw… boring game.

The Celtics Can't score a 100 pts

People will talk about defense. But the C’s still held them under a 100. I wish Doc would figure out that his offense stinks. It’s become predictable. So Rondo takes over and plays random basketball while others watch. If he doesn’t find a layup the shot clock winds down and the Celtics take a horrible shot. The defense can’t be set up if the other team is always rebounding and taking off. The Celtics Have to find a way to get easy baskets and stop all the one on one stuff.

I can't deal with this you guys tonight ... I am out

Any body notice....

or think JJ has a peculiar running stride when he is fast breaking down the court ?

I am not sure if he actually does or its just those leg supports he wears that makes him look as he does?

what i did notice is...

I think the C’s, as a team, have the most worn pads in the league… and it’s not for fashion.

he does run weird

and always has but he is extremely fast. he was the 12th fastest player at the combine for all positions

Yea it may look odd...

but JJ can still run the court like gazelle which is the main thing .

What makes this loss uglier is...

the Magic won against the Sixers… _

but what makes it tolerable for me is....

WILCOX! Alley—oops?! He’s stepping up! We’ll need that confidence coming into the 2nd half of the season ;)

If Lin were on the Celtics roster right now, what do you want to bet doc would be playing dooling instead anyway?

jurrasicearl - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

I think I'd bet a nickel

If you gave me 1000:1 odds

CBanner18Scout - February 15, 2012 reply

C'mon now!

If Rondo doesn’t shoot then it’s because he isn’t a good shooter. If Rondo does shoot then he’s shooting too much. SMH what’s going on here really? It’s our first loss to this crap team from the other two we won against them, stuff happens. And I’m more concerned about the Bulls game tomorrow than this one. Kudos to Rondo making career-high points and doing an awesome job as the C’s shooter tonight! Maybe you guys could show some love to the guy at least for tonight. Last sunday he had a monster triple-double Larry Bird style, and tonight he achieved career-high points, sinked alot of jump-shooters and even a 3-pointer! looks at Pierce & Allen and what did you guys do tonight again?? Oh and let’s get rid of: Dooling, Daniels, and Pavlovic PLEASEEEEE!!!

Oh and J.O too!!

CBanner18Scout - February 15, 2012 reply

Hey - hard to blame JO for tonight

During his 21 minutes on the floor we actually were +5! Best +/- on the Cs.

Probably because he’s the only big man we have who could slow down Monroe.

https://twitter.com/celtics

It's time, Danny... We ain't goin nowhere with this group!

Rany - February 15, 2012 reply

Quotes.... what better way to argue than to hear it from the pros....

Doc on missing KG: “A little bit. The combination of Kevin & Brandon. Defensively when you give up 98 points to a team that’s struggling…”

Doc on Paul not looking like himself: “He wasn’t really involved and you’ve got to get your scorers involved early.”

Doc: “Schedule doesn’t bother me. We’re pretty good on the road. But we’ve proven we can beat anybody or lose to anybody. It’s frustrating.”

Wilcox on playing w/ Rondo: “At the beginning of the year I was dropping his passes, but the passes he’s throwing me now aren’t surprising.”

Rondo on what went wrong in the 4th: "We gave them confidence, they hit a few 3s and then we couldn't shut them off."

Interesting quotes...thanks

For those using the KG Rondo injuries excuse

The Knicks won either 4 or 5 in a row without Amare and Melo

6

7 after tonight

But Melo and Stat were there for the first one

The difference with us and the knicksis

They have a player like Lin, that isnt blinded by huge pay checks….hes just on the court, playing the game he loves, leaving IT ALL out on the court every game. So many teams lack a guy or guys like that. Someone that doesnt take games off….maybe he has a bad game, but not due to a lack of effort. Its call pride, heart and passion. Most players dont have that, they just have fat wallets.

Knicks are improving by leaps and bounds

On offense and defense. They’re playing great basketball…. imo, threatening to become one of the best teams in the NBA. They certainly have the talent.

Great games to watch too.

we have that

look at bradley johnson and moore especially they arent making hardly anything we just dont get them enough PT moore is making 1/20 of what rondo makes

European NBA fan - February 15, 2012 reply

Ok, but

Bradley, moore, and johnson dont impact a game the way lin can

Kgwillkillyou - February 16, 2012 via mobile reply

Big difference

The Knicks have not lost their defensive identity with Melo and Amare out. On the contrary it seems to be stronger.

And their offense actually looks more like what their coach wants with Lin in, and Melo out. So in stead of losing offensive identity they have gained.

For the Celtics it is more the other way around. We can’t sustain our defense without a strong KG because our other bigs are not that great. We don’t have a defensive leader without KG (the Knicks have Chandler).
And on offense we seem to have some problems balancing between Rondo and Pierce, and we need to figure that out, because Pierce can’t do what he did in our winning streak against the top defensive Sf’s, and Rondo isn’t Derrick Rose (even if he can make 30+ points a night). So we need to mix our set plays and rhythm, with running the fastbreak and iso plays. I guess the Knicks also will need to make some adjustments to get Melo involved.

Er, KG and Bass injuries

make a big trade or hope for a lottery pick, the team we have now can only go as far as the 2nd round and thats thinking optimistically.

That's assuming they make the playoffs

Open question

thats why im saying if they dont make a big trade just hope they fall further in the standings for a better shot at a lottery pick

the team we have now will not bring home a banner

I agree

Don’t tank it, but play the kids, get them ready for next year, and hope a lucky ping pong ball bounces the Celts way.

spinetingler - February 15, 2012 reply

Horrible game

Other than Rondo, Wilcox and some young guys played well but everyone else looked uninspired. Bad game. I’m not sure what’s worse for us this year, getting plenty of rest or playing every night because they played almost as bad tonight as they did in Toronto.

p-peazy - February 15, 2012 reply

Not a Donny Marshall fan but

Even he is saying there are some people in the locker room right now upset that they didn’t get enough touches.

I bet Pierce is the 1st one complaining...lol

LOL

trap game, more like a trap season

yuck-another smeller. without kg, there was very poor pick and roll defense. lots of room for pistons to shoot. wallace killed us off the boards. a very poor game from jo whom we really needed- he’s slow. don’t blame rondo- the fogies ra and pp were playing on medicare.

nazzbo - February 15, 2012 reply

Lets trade all our starters

For Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum!!

Keep the bench. We’ll see how far we get with them!

SparzWizard - February 15, 2012 reply

We'll make the playoffs

We’ll get the 7th or 8th seed, and play Chicago or Miami.
If we play Chicago, I think a miracle could help us.
If we play Miami, not even a miracle could get us through.

That’s my guess today, February 15th.

Master_Shake - February 15, 2012 reply

Really?

I thought Chicago was tougher than Miami because of Noah, Boozer, and Deng…

Don’t get me started with DRose. Their bench is tremendous too…

SparzWizard - February 15, 2012 reply

I think they are a GREAT team

But I have a feeling we COULD pull a miracle against them. I dont know, I just feel it.
But if we had to face Miami…I dont think we could

Master_Shake - February 16, 2012 reply

Hm. I just think we can beat Miami over Chicago

Because all they really have is LeBron and Wade on massive damage list…unless Norris Cole outdoes Rondo.

Bosh, well, uhm, if KG is still the same KG a few games ago then he’s got that covered. Pierce missed the game against the Heat and it got pretty close…so I like our chances with them.

SparzWizard - February 16, 2012 reply

It was a “Trap Game”. We should’nt have played it. We were Tricked.

Dantenina - February 15, 2012 reply

19 out of their first 29 games at home

11-8 in those 19 games. Does not bode well at all for the rest of the year.

...add another quote:

Doc on Rondo-Wilcox. “Rondo has trust that he can throw the ball up to him & he’ll go get it… It’s no different than Brady and Gronk.”

The nights that Monroe and Ben Wallace had inside just shows how WEAK the Celtics are. Monroe had 22 points on 11-14 and Wallace had 11 boards OFF THE BENCH. And, no, KG wouldn’t have helped.

StarzNBarz - February 15, 2012 reply

the balance between scoring and passing is one of the most difficult things to learn

I’m a bulls fan, a rose fan, and im constantly irked by people calling out rose or saying “hes just like westbrook” because rose only gets 7 assists a game and often takes near 20 shots per game.

I think what people dont understand is that the ability to balance when to score and when to pass, especially when you are the CENTER OF THE OFFENSE, is probably the hardest thing to learn as a pg. From my personal experiences, i offer wonder if its even possible to learn, and if its not more of a god given talent (sort of like court vision, some people have it and some people just dont).

I think this game is a prime example of rondo trying to find that balance. He took 27 shots because pierce and ray allen were struggling and he was essentially the center piece of the offense. So at some point he did what he should do, and started to take over on offense, but that limited his ability to create plays because obviously he was the one taking the shots…because he needed to…..and thats often the situation a guy like rose is in. Its not that rose is a ball hog, but more often than not the team relies on him to get scores in order to achieve victory.

I also think this is why guys like steve nash, especially nash right now, is so under rated. Nash and cp3 might be the two best in the league, both are able to both score as the centerpieces of their offense, and still find ways to dish out 10 assists. Its incredible to fathom.

But i do hope this game helps enlighten some of you, that just because a pg gets 20 points and 7 assists, doesnt mean that he is some selfish jerk.

piccolomair - February 15, 2012 reply

I was more intrigue on NY game

sad we lose

celtics2011 - February 15, 2012 reply

Dame knicks , Isaiah most be rolling over in his grave because their winning.

forever_green - February 16, 2012 via mobile reply

a sure lose again tom against chicago.

i woun’t watch the game tom its obvious we gonna lose again tom. We can’t even take a win to shtty team lyk detroit how can we expect a win tom?

reb0undwins18 - February 16, 2012 reply

i see what your doing

your reverse jinx wont work!!!!!

piccolomair - February 16, 2012 reply

dont fool urself in believing they gonna win tom against chicago.

reb0undwins18 - February 16, 2012 reply

Bench again.

Our bench, again, was all negative. Massively negative.

Yes, Pierce and Ray both looked sluggish and didn’t do a ton. But while they were on the floor, at least they were spacing things and indirectly helping Rondo get room. Plus, they, and the other starters actually played semi-decent defense. Overall, their +/- numbers were net positive, though not by a lot.

The bench, though, posted a huge fat stinker.
Here are the +/- numbers for our bench (minutes in parenthesis):

Pietrus (15:59) -9
Johnson (25:05) -15
Bradley (8:34) -8
Dooling (14:39) -8
Stiemsma (12:48) -10

That’s pretty bad.

No – that’s really, really bad.

JuJuan some moore - February 16, 2012 reply

arent you always the one saying that those dont matter

what matters more is the unit on the floor

They matter as a record of what happened.

They don’t necessarily mean a given individual played great or poor. Johnson may have been terrific and just had the misfortune to be on the floor while others booted the ball around.

But they are an accurate record of what happened while they were on the floor. You can break it down further into the different 5-man units that were on and see which combinations ‘worked’ and which didn’t.

And when you have such a clear distinction as that – between the starters and the bench – it’s a simply matter of record that our team performed far worse against the Pistons in this game when our bench players were on the floor. By a huge margin.

One thing is pretty clear from looking at the recent game data: Our defense really suffers when we have neither KG or JO on the floor. Having at least one of those guys really shores up the paint. As I’ve said before I truly believe our bench bigs are capable of playing better defense, but they still have a lot to learn and need to improve.