Bucket of Gold

ED-DIE!

Yesterday morning when I woke up and found out that the Nate Robinson for Eddie House talks had intensified, my first reaction was that I didn’t like the trade and didn’t want the Celtics to do it. After thinking about it for a little while, I admit that I kind of changed my mind. I thought about how Nate Robinson fell out of D’Antoni’s rotation for whatever reason, and after logging consecutive games where he didn’t see one minute of playing time, D’Antoni had a change of heart, brought him in off the bench and he dropped 41 on the Hawks. On a Celtics team that has at times struggled to put points on the board and has lacked energy, especially in the second half of games, the prospect of a guy who could come in off the bench and do that is intriguing. I also felt like the Celtics needed to shake things up- they have seemingly been plagued by complacency and could do with a burst of energy and some new blood, and Nate Robinson is definitely filled with energy and could definitely shake things up. Add on to that, that for the majority of this season, Eddie House hasn’t been that guy coming in off the bench, providing a spark and putting points on the board. He’s a two guard in the body of a point guard, and on this team, he has been saddled with too much ball handling, which has taken him off of his game- his shooting. As a result of having to the play the one, he’s turned the ball over a bunch and has had difficulty defensively keeping up with other point guards. So I thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and make that move.      

Then, when rumors started to swirl that the talks had continued to progress, I had second thoughts again. Nate Robinson, listed at 5’9”, is not 5’9”. He’s probably more like 5’7”. He will not be any more of an effective defensive presence than Eddie and could potentially be a real liability defensively because of his size. Nate Robinson, like Eddie, is a streaky shooter. Yes, he found his rhythm quickly after not playing and scored 41 on the Hawks, but he’s also just as capable of going 2 for 12 and scoring 5 points. And this is what has caused me have the most doubt- after losing James Posey I think we all learned how important chemistry guys are. Trading Eddie House for Nate Robinson probably won’t be a downgrade in terms of skill and could potentially provide the Celtics with a much needed spark if it works out… But Eddie House is irreplaceable because of the kind of guy he is: the creator of the crazy, personalized, pre-game handshakes for the starting five. He is the constant cheerleader on the sidelines and the guy teeming with intensity on the court on every single possession, even if he’s not connecting from downtown. He comes in, busts his butt to do his job and doesn’t complain about anything. Even if Nate Robinson comes in excited and ready to go, which he better be because he’s been begging for a trade to a contender for months, and even if he immerses himself in the Celtics system and does his best to get along with everyone, which again, he better do- it won’t change the fact that he wasn’t there for the championship run and Eddie was.

When you think of the Celtics championship run, the first thing that comes to mind is the Big Three, and rightfully so because it was an amazing run and it was their first season together. But everyone knows they wouldn’t have won it without the role players- this was before the emergence of Rondo and Perk as superstars in their own right. They did their thing, but a lot of credit also has to go to James Posey, Leon Powe, Glen Davis, PJ Brown and Eddie House. The only guy remaining from that list is Glen Davis. But it’s a business- guys leave for more money, they retire and they get traded. I just think it’s too bad that more of them couldn’t have been retained. At least, this year, unlike last year, the Celtics have equipped with more role guys- Marquis will be huge down the stretch, Rasheed will hopefully continue to come along and Glen Davis has been playing great basketball as of late. Hopefully Nate will find his place.

P.S.: A big HAHA at me for thinking I’d shrug it off as just business if the Celtics traded Ray Allen.

Trade Rumors

After being swept by the Hawks, losing the season series to the Magic and coming up empty handed in the first match-up of the first season against the Lakers, I have come to the realization that I’ve been just as delusional as some of the Celtics. It doesn’t matter if the Celtics are capable of beating the Magic, or any other team in the NBA, if they played a full game. They have yet to play to their full potential and right now, the Celtics are not better than the Hawks, Magic or Lakers… Or Cavs, for that matter, but the Celtics haven’t played them recently. The key part of that statement is “right now.” Doc said it best: the Celtics COULD be better than the aforementioned teams- but there’s no point in arguing otherwise, they’re not right now. Sure, a bunch of the games against the elite have come down to the wire and have been heartbreakers, whether it be that the Celtics lost it at the buzzer or there were a couple of tough calls down the wire that went against them, but at the end of the day, none of that matters because nothing negates the fact that the Celtics lost those games.

This has been the worst month of the Big Three era, so it is only natural that sentiments of unease and distaste surrounding the Celtics are on the rise. I remain steadfast in my belief that this team can turn it around- the question is, will they? In acting on the rising feelings of unease and distaste, lots of people have been calling on Danny Ainge to pull the trigger and make a move, and all of the rumors swirling around include Ray Allen. I’m not for or against a move including Ray, but it just doesn’t seem like an especially plausible option. Believe it or not, the Celtics are not the only team who don’t want to pay Ray and his declining statistics the 19 million dollars he’s on the books for. The trade rumors are stupid and are probably just the result of bored journalists that want something to write about, but a couple weeks ago the Celtics were going to swap Ray for Monta Ellis; now it’s Kevin Martin, Andre Iguodala or Tyrus Thomas and Kirk Heinrich.

Even though Kevin Martin is a great scorer, there are negatives to take in to consideration: namely, he is injury prone and has missed 80 games in the last two seasons. In his career, Ray Allen has missed 92 games. Further, some of Kevin Martin’s injuries have been in his wrists. It’s virtually impossible to replace the outside threat that even a slumping Ray Allen brings, but if I’m looking to replace that, I’m not looking to replace him with someone who admits that their shot has suffered as a result of their injuries. Furthermore, I read that the Kings are in no hurry to break up the backcourt duo of Tyreke Evans and Martin, and if they did deal him, they would want a “prolific and young” big man included in the package. To me, that is sufficient enough to dead that rumor.

Andre Iguodala? Send him over. That would be great, but is also extremely unlikely to happen. In order for it to work money wise, the deal would have to include multiple players. The only thing less likely than the Sixers giving up Iguodala to an Eastern Conference foe is the Sixers giving up Iguodala and Lou Williams, a great backup for Rondo, to an Eastern conference foe. Iguodala is not an especially great shooter, but he is a good scorer. More importantly, he’s tough as nails, athletic, an able passer, a moderately big body and a slasher. I’ve always liked him, it’s just not happening.

The most realistic option might be Ray for Tyrus Thomas and Kirk Heinrich, and it seems most realistic to me because the Bulls are itching to unload Thomas. They’ve become disenchanted with him because he hasn’t played to his potential and apparently, he’s a big jerk. It doesn’t make that much sense to trade Ray for Thomas, but throwing in Kirk Heinrich, a pretty good guard and excellent backup for Rondo, makes it a little more sensible. In the face of having to rely on Rasheed too much, a freakishly athletic 6’10” guy who can score, play defense when he feels like it and rebounds the ball well is appealing. It depends on how big of a jerk Tyrus Thomas really is- could he leave the Bulls and become a functional player right away? Could he be disciplined enough to learn the Celtics system? Would he accept a role coming off of the bench and playing limited minutes? There’s no room for immaturity on this team, and that’s something that has become commonplace with him. It’s probably to risky to be a good idea for the Celtics.

At the end of the day, I don’t think the Celtics will move Ray this year. The best and most realistic way for this team to get better is to work with all of the great pieces that they already have. As always, much is contingent on KG’s health, but Paul Pierce also needs to rest up and get better, and Marquis Daniels needs to be re-integrated back in to the swing of things. There have been two positives recently: Glen Davis has looked better in the past couple of games than he has since he came back, which is great, and Eddie House has got it going a little bit. Hopefully Eddie will get even more of a boost with Marquis’ return. Rasheed needs to hit the treadmill, stop jacking up threes, start rebounding and settle down, because he can be more of a contributor to this team than he has been. Admittedly, it is harder to get in to shape at 35, but it is not impossible. It’s also February, so its past overdue, but I won’t get in to all that again.

** This just in: the latest rumor is Glen Davis for DJ Augustin. NOOOO!!!! Trading Glen would make the Celtics even more reliant on Rasheed and that’s not a good thing at all. Plus, Glen has been making huge strides these last couple of games, so why trade away a young, big guy for a back up point guard? Bad idea.

The march continues

The good news? All Star break is fast approaching and our weary green men will have the chance to put their feet up and do some soul searching. All Star break will also bring the return of Marquis Daniels, and I can’t wait. I really think his return will have far reaching (positive) consequences- a lessening of the load for Paul and Ray, a solid perimeter defender, an able ball handler, and a multitude of intangibles. He’s a winner. Some more good news? The monstrous stretch against the Magic, Hawks and Lakers, is over. The bad news? The Celtics went 0-3. But what’s done is done. There’s no use crying over spilled milk, and there were some serious signs of life, especially in the game against the Lakers yesterday. KG looks to be coming along, Rondo played a brilliant game and, after going down by 12 in the first, the Celtics would have never surged back without the great play of Tony Allen. I don’t really care if Kobe is playing with a laundry list of injuries- as he proved with the clock expiring, he’s still Kobe- and for the majority of the game, both Allens’ rose to the job defensively and shut him down. Rasheed and KG did a good job of shutting down Gasol and Odom. There were many positives.   

The problem is that the Celtics couldn’t close the game out. Part of it was that it looked like they thought they were going to coast- they started walking the ball up the court and relaxed a little bit on defense. Another, huge, part of the collapse is that they stopped scoring, and since they relaxed on defense, the Lakers did not stop scoring. I personally would have liked to have seen Tony Allen out there in the fourth, maybe not as the clock wound down, but at least for a nice stretch in the beginning and middle of the quarter. As was aforementioned, TA provided the spark in the second that brought the Celtics back in to the game, and his continued great play is what helped to propel them ahead. Doc went with Ray instead, and I don’t really understand why. Ray hadn’t been hitting all game, and TA was doing just a good a job on Kobe defensively as Ray was. My other gripe is that I thought that the final play should have included bringing the ball to the basket, instead of trying to win it from the outside. I mean, yeah, Ray will oftentimes sink that shot, especially in the clutch. But the Celtics were down one- why not go for a high percentage shot? Bring it to the basket, and if you don’t get the bucket, you have the chance of getting to the line. I understand wanting the ball in Ray’s hands, and he’s plenty capable of taking it to the hole.

And about that push off. At first, I was adamant that it wasn’t a push off. Then, I watched it couples more times after I calmed down, and okay- I’m capable of admitting that Paul Pierce extended his forearm a little bit. Ron Artest’s performance crashing to the ground was Oscar worthy, but that’s neither here nor there. My bottom line is that it would have been a perfect “no call” situation, because there wasn’t any need to call it. If they were going to call it then, it needed to have been called hundreds of times earlier in the game- literally, hundreds of times, and that’s why it isn’t whistled. I’m a huge advocate for letting the guys play. These are grown a** men, not fragile little kids. Let them muscle each other around a little bit, and stop calling the ticky tack fouls. If the ticky tack fouls are going to be whistled, then they need to be whistled all game, consistently, on both ends of the floor, so that guys can adapt to the game and know what to expect. That being said, the physicality that Paul employed in pushing off of Ron Artest  had been previously permissible in that game, so there is no way, under any circumstances, that he should have been whistled for it with 10 seconds left in fourth. To me, that’s unacceptable. But again- it’s spilled milk.    

Tonight they play Washington. The Wizards have had a lot of drama swirling around them as of late, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of winning some games. The Wizards have some big men who need to be stopped, in Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood, and I don’t know how much gas KG and Perk will have left in the tank for tonight, so I’m counting on Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace to step up. Additionally, maybe Shelden Williams will get some minutes. Even though he hasn’t played in the last six games, he was effective earlier on in the season, especially in slower paced games, which this game will hopefully be. If yesterday was a must win, then tonight is a MUST win. They’ll have to grind it out.

I want to take this time to get some off my chest that I’ve been thinking about for a little while. Our job as a fan is easy: support the team. That doesn’t mean you have to blindly support them. Of course not- a fan can critique and criticize, you can be disappointed, angry, or whatever you want, if the team is messing up. But during this tough stretch, I’ve seen and heard way too many fans jumping ship and saying things like, “Oh, they suck, they’re old, they’re garbage, and they’re pathetic.” That is not criticism or critique. That’s denigrating- and furthermore, it’s pointless. If you feel that way, nobody is forcing the Celtics on you. If you think they suck or if you don’t like them, then don’t watch. It’s pretty simple. Personally, after a long, ugly month, I think this team is starting to give us a real reason to stay positive and offer our support, which as fans, is all we have to offer. It takes patience, but they’re turning a corner and getting better. I think Doc Rivers said it best yesterday: “Our biggest issue with our injuries is that they’re healthy now, but they’re not ready to play basketball at this level yet.” They’re getting there. And if you thought it was going to be smooth sailing, then you clearly had no idea about who the team was that you were supporting. It’s never easy with them. It’s part of their charm.

On the dark side of the moon

Okay. The loss last night to Orlando was really crappy. The Celtics had the chance to win two in a row in Orlando, blow the Magic out and move ahead in the season series against them. Instead, they blew a 16 point second half lead and lost. There were spurts of great play- stints of absolute lock down defense and fluid offense, but then it would all just disappear and the Celtics play from the possession before was nowhere to be found. Ray and Rasheed also had some great moments during the game- it was wonderful seeing Ray go 7 for 7 and seeing Rasheed connecting from downtown, too. But it was all for naught- the game really shifted towards the Magic during the first three minutes of the fourth quarter- the Magic cut the Celtics lead from 12 to 6 in minutes. Did the Celtics run out of steam? Lose interest? Maybe a combination of both. I don’t know. All I know for sure is that whatever happened sucks and further, continual performances like that make it really hard to envision this team making the improvements that it needs to make in order to get back to winning.

It was not a good night for #5, but I’m not ready to write KG off as a has-been. It’s inevitable that every time he has a bad game, people will say that he’s still hurt. It’s obvious that he’s not himself, but I think he’ll improve. Admittedly, as time goes on, it’s harder to tell if my feelings about him are grounded in reality or I feel that way because of my loyalty to him. He played badly last night, there’s no denying that. He put it best: “I played like sh*t. Pure sh*t.” The question is if he played badly because he’s hurt or if he played badly because he had a bad night. As of today, I’m going with the second option. Do I think he’s 100 percent? No. Do I think he’ll ever be 100 percent again? No. But do I think he can be 100 percent for a 33 year old veteran coming off of a knee surgery? Yes, as of today, I do. But we need realistic expectations for what 100 percent is for a 33 year old veteran coming off of a knee surgery, and because it’s KG we’re talking about, I feel like the expectations many people have for him are not realistic. That’s detrimental to the team. His value to this team is still immeasurable. He can still do a multitude of things. He will be intense, he will be a basketball genius, he will be a leader and he will never accept anything less than great from this team. There will be nights where he’ll sink 10 footers and be a presence in the post on both ends of the court and some nights he’ll be able to connect for alley oops… What he can do goes on and on. But I’m sorry- in keeping with realistic expectations: people will be able to blow by him, he’ll dive on the floor (even if we don’t want him to) and still get beat to a loose ball, people will beat him to rebounds and some nights he wont be able to get up for the alley oops. There will be bad nights and ugly performances. Last night was a bad night. He looked like he was hurting, a step behind the pace of the game and not in any kind of rhythm. His first game back against Portland was not great, but he looked much better against the Clippers on Monday night. Was that because it was his second game back after a month hiatus and he needed to shake the cobwebs off? Last night was their first game since Monday’s win against the Clippers. Was he out of sync because of the time off? Tonight will be telling. Will a back to back game allow him to loosen his knee up and help him get back in to a rhythm, or will it be too much? My fingers are crossed for a better showing. Not because this team needs him- they do- but because I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Kevin Garnett. I’m merely a spectator and I know that as an outsider looking in, I have only a superficial idea of how hard he works, of how badly he wants to contribute and of how much he loves the game of basketball. Selfishly, watching him struggle is extremely difficult, but the worst part is that I know his struggle extends far beyond what I can see and my heart literally aches for him. So here’s to hoping that there are some positive signs tonight.       

Josh Smith needs to be stopped, and KG will need help with that. Rasheed will be able to help, and Glen Davis better put his running shoes on, too. Glen has a hard time defending big men who play outside- for example; he was not at all effective matching up with Nowitzki. Josh Smith is younger, more physical and quicker than Nowitzki.  Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson need to be contained, too. Rondo has the advantage in a match up with Bibby, and Paul can duel with Joe Johnson. Hopefully the back to back won’t take too much out of him. At the end of the day everyone from Atlanta needs to be stopped- you can add Al Horford and Jamal Crawford to the list. Perk only played 15 minutes last night, thanks to foul trouble, so he should have some gas in the tank. Similarly, Tony Allen also only played around 15 minutes, so he’ll need to provide the Celtics with some spark off the bench. He can give Ray and Paul a breather and clamp down on some of the Hawks perimeter threats. Eddie House got it going a little bit, and they could really use points off the bench. The Celtics could really use this win. Nobody knows that more than they do- but will that message reach home?

Back to back wins!

Last night when the Celtics-Clippers game was on, I was simultaneously watching Syracuse-Georgetown. Georgetown came out blazing and ran to a 14-2 lead. Even after not scoring a field goal for the first 5 plus minutes of the game, Syracuse’s intensity never faltered. They managed to completely knock Georgetown off of their game. It started on the defensive end. At the beginning of the game, Georgetown was killing the Syracuse zone by draining shot after shot from beyond the arc. That meant that Syracuse had to shift out more, and Georgetown exploited that by getting the ball inside and scoring in the paint. But Syracuse shut it down- all the sudden Georgetown was misfiring from three and couldn’t get the ball inside. Syracuse got points off transition and got in to their game and Georgetown never recovered. The Syracuse zone is excellent at trapping- their opponents often find themselves locked in a corner in a sea of Orange, unable to find the light of day. Last night was no different, the Orange swarmed and the Hoyas coughed the ball up. That means that Syracuse played a lot of their offense in transition, running the ball on the fast break for an easy two. In past games, Syracuse played the transition too fast, overthrowing the outlet pass because it was thrown in a rush, or over passing the ball and missing the lay up because they play so unselfishly. There was none of that carelessness last night- the Orange protected the ball well all night. Jim Boeheim said that his team wasn’t great yet, but had the potential to be. Last night against Georgetown, you could really see Syracuse improving.

The same thing goes for the Celtics- they could be really great, but they need to improve. There’s no denying that they’re not playing at an elite level right now. You could say that the Celtics’ win last night against the Clippers was lackluster and not all that impressive. That being said, I’d much rather look at it from the perspective of it being a good, solid win. While I don’t consider the Clippers to be a formidable opponent, they’re definitely a capable team. If Blake Griffin wasn’t out for the season, they’d be even more interesting.

It looked like it was going to be another long night for the Celtics. Even though the score was close after one, the game was being played much more at the Clippers pace and it looked like the Celtics were barely hanging in, as opposed to playing competitively. The Green showed some signs of life at about the eight minute mark in the second. After going down by as much as seven, they put together successive defensive stops. Offensively, instead of settling for jump shots, they looked for the second and third options and effectively took the ball to the basket. Ray connected a couple of times, but I think it was mostly Rondo who provided the spark, both in getting the ball moving more and in pressuring the Clippers defense by taking it in the paint himself. He also did a pretty great job staying in front of Baron Davis. The third quarter was their best showing all night- a welcome sign. It was when they had the most flow- the ball was moving, the defense was turned on, and different guys were scoring- they outscored the Clippers 21-15, the biggest point discrepancy of the night. The Clippers shot under 30 percent in the third and the Celtics had assists on four of nine field goals. We should remember that this is only the second game with the original starting five playing together in more than a (long, adversity filled) month. They’re not a finished product and they will improve.

Lastly, I thought KG looked pretty great last night. He was running the floor really well and he looked smooth and confident in his gait and remained that way over thirty minutes of play. He was banging around on the post and not staying on the outside, which was lovely to see. The difference he makes is huge, and it goes way beyond the stat sheet. He’s getting back in to the swing of things and will improve statistically as time goes on, but that’s not what’s important about him. More than anything, I think he really just calms the team down and makes them play much more cohesively and confident. They rally around him and it raises their intensity and focus- two things sorely lacking in his absence. And he was vintage KG- the Celtics turned the ball over and KG chased Baron Davis down and blocked what would have been an easy two for the Clippers. Then, he started screaming obscenities at himself, pumping his fists in the air and slamming himself on the chest. The crowd went wild, and he screamed, “I’m back!” Indeed. And I can dig it.

Thoughts on a rainy Monday

Friday afternoon, in a very unfortunate series of events, I erroneously boarded a train to Philadelphia instead of to Boston, so I missed the return of KG and the first win in four games for the Celtics. So, since I didn’t see the game, I’m unable to make any real commentary on it. A lot of people have said the win wasn’t great because they Celtics needed overtime to put the shorthanded Blazers away. Even without seeing the game, I can say that the Celtics are a much better team than the way they played on Friday. I’m sure that if I had been watching and I saw Ray missing everything he put up (except when it really mattered), I would have known we were going to be in for a long night. Big ups to Tony Allen for stepping in after Paul Pierce fouled out and holding things down. At the end of the day, what this team needed was a win, and they got it. That’s all that really matters. That being said, what they need to do is continue to win. Duh. And they especially need to win at home, because they’ve been giving games away in Boston. They have an opportunity to protect the home court tonight against the Clippers. Once upon a time last season, the Clippers were an automatic win. That’s no longer the case, as the Clippers have already defeated the Celtics (it should be noted that KG played but was hurting and Paul didn’t play. But a loss is a loss) once this season and have also come out with wins against the Lakers, Nuggets and Grizzlies (yes, I think the Grizzlies are really good). They also almost beat Cleveland, losing by one point… if only that mattered. Anyways, a couple of keys to this game:

1) Minimize the effectiveness of Baron Davis and Chris Kaman. Luckily for the Celtics, Davis and Kaman will be defended by two of the Celtics best defenders for the majority of the game, in Rondo and Perk respectively. Baron Davis is a bigger guy than Rondo, and he’s not going to play nice and hang around the perimeter. He can score from outside, but he’s also skilled at taking the ball to the rim. What Rondo gives up to Davis in size, he makes up for in speed and athletic ability. It’s important for Rondo to stay in front of Davis and force him to stay outside, and not to try and get 10 steals… even though he could, because he’s ill like that. You may remember that Baron Davis is the one who scored at the buzzer to lift the Clippers over the Celtics last time. Not again. Stay in front of him.

Chris Kaman ran circles around Perk last time these teams met up, dropping 27, while Perk only managed to put up nine. To be fair Perk shot four for five that night, so the Celtics should make an effort to get him more offensively involved tonight. If the Celtics take it inside consistently and make Kaman work on both ends of the floor, it will do a lot to slow him down offensively. KG played during the last match up, but it was his last game before getting pulled from the lineup and he was not himself. Needless to say, an active KG will put further pressure on Kaman.

2) Win the battle of the boards. This is less of a specific to this game; it’s more so applicable to all of their games. They’ve been getting squashed on the boards and second chance points are a killer, especially for a team like the Celtics, who exert so much energy on defense. The Celtics actually out rebounded the Clippers last time, but Marcus Camby wasn’t playing and he makes a huge difference. Last night he had 20 rebounds. The Clippers had 33 in total last time they played the Celtics. Instead of taking off down the floor once they see a shot goes up, as has been their practice as of late, guys need to stay home and secure the rebound.

With a really tough stretch coming up against ATL, Orlando and the Lakers, I hope the Celtics will find a way to get a nice, comfortable win tonight.

Lastly, an unrelated aside: Marquis Daniels has had his cast removed and has been practicing. Yay! His return will be huge because he’s a steady presence and does a little bit of everything. He will improve the play of Eddie House, handle the ball in the second unit and lessen minutes for Ray. It was originally said that he wasn’t going to return until after the all star break, which is around Valentines Day, but now they said he might be activated by February 10. Let’s not rush.