Ray Allen reaches 20,000! Celtics 18-4
I (momentarily) stand duly corrected. I admit that in envisioning TA’s return to the team, I had visions of him sprinting around the court like a maniac, hurtling himself towards the basket forcing up silly shots and recklessly hacking away at the ball, racking up fouls trying to do way too much. Instead, I am very happy to report that in nearly 18 minutes of very efficient play, he scored 8 points on 4 of 5 shooting, grabbed an offensive rebound, dished out three assists and had two steals- and accrued only one personal foul. He reminded us what he can do, and I can dig it. I know it’s going to be a process. I don’t expect him to come out there and do that every night. There will be off nights filled with silly fouls and forced shots. But for now what’s important is that we saw what could be, and it was good. I even caught myself thinking about what the bench will look like once Marquis and Glen Davis are back. I don’t even wanna get in to it because it’s a far way off (ugh. boo!), but I will say that when the Celtics acquired Marquis I thought it would kind of eliminate the need for TA. I don’t think that anymore. TA and Marquis bring really different things to the table, and I think they could be quite effective and dangerous out there together… And huuuge. So I applaud TA for his discipline in orchestrating this return and I hope that the performances like last night keep coming.
However, the lack of a backup point guard has suddenly become much more of a glaring problem. Last night when Rondo was on the bench, Ray Allen brought the ball up a bunch and Paul also stepped up to orchestrate the offense. It’s not that Ray and Paul aren’t able ball handlers- it’s that they’re not point guards. Duh. And I know that Eddie House is better off the ball and I know he has problems handling the ball when pressured, but I still think it’s better to have him bring the ball up then Ray. Eddie has been a shooting guard in a point guards body his whole career, it’s something he’s hard to deal with, whereas Ray Allen has always played his true position. He played 39 minutes last night. Too much for it to become a pattern. I still wanna see what Lester can do, too… Extenuating circumstances could warrant at least a trial run, right? I’ve also been thinking about Tryonn Lue. He’s currently the director of basketball development. I don’t really know what that means, but I do know that Tommy says he’s still in basketball shape and I also know that Tommy knows everything. Doc loved him in Orlando and there have been rumblings that he will come out of retirement and play backup to Rondo for the run later in the season. Maybe he can come back now and play a couple minutes to ease the load a little bitJ. Probably not, but who ever knows with these crazy guys?
All the talk about a backup point guard is not a jab at Rondo; it’s just not possible for one guy to do everything for 48 minutes… But if it was, he’d be the guy. For a couple games there, when they were playing sucky basketball, I was very much down on Rondo because he’s supposed to the conductor of all the magic out there. I thought he was slackin’ in his pimpin’, but my man seems to have turned a corner. I’m talking about he’s taking it to the basket, initiating contact and has appeared to be much less weary stepping to the free throw line. I read that Tony Parker bristled at being compared to Rondo, saying that he was a much better shooter. Touché, Tony, but all that did was motivate Rondo to show us that we’re the ones worried about his shot, not him. He demonstrated this to Mr. Parker by draining a clutch jumper over Tony’s outstretched arms late in the 4thon the road against the Spurs, and proceeded to have another solid shooting night last night against the Wizards, going 10 for 20 and coming through in the clutch again late in the 4th. Sometimes Rondo is so good it makes me laugh… And actually, that goes for all of them.
To be honest though, last night wasn’t a spectacular performance. They’re fully capable of beating the Wizards by 20 plus, but instead they ended up in a close one because they took their foot off the gas during halftime. I think that they’re well on their way to becoming a 48 minute team and I’m excited for what’s to come, this is a special group. I end with an excerpt from ESPN’s daily dime:
The Celtics have sprinted to an 18-4 record, tops in the Eastern Conference, yet they have somehow managed to operate in the immense shadow cast by the universal admiration of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. The Celtics don’t generate the lead plays on nightly highlight reels, nor do they dance on the sideline during blowout wins. They aren’t as sexy as the Cavs and Lakers. They don’t have a player capable of putting up video game numbers every night. What they do have is a group of guys that define what winning basketball in the NBA is all about.
The Celts share the ball. They defend on every possession. They accept roles. They play with energy, passion and pride. They look, feel and play like a group of guys that love playing together. Their balance makes them incredibly difficult to defend because teams cannot “lock in” on a particular player, set or area of the floor.
