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?
