- HOLY FREAKING CRAP, DERRICK ROSE. NOVA.
- HOLY FREAKING CRAP, TYRUS THOMAS.
- This is what I told a Celtics fan friend who told me it was inexcusable for this team to lose to the Bulls, Garnett or no. The Bulls are a team with incredible athletic talent who have trouble translating that to actual basketball production.But this game highlights what they’re capable of. Thomas hitting jumpers, Rose attacking the rim. Hinrich playing the lockdown defender. Noah playing Hustle Junkie. This is a team that’s problem was not living up to potential. They won’t always play as well as they did today, but they can. And it’s pretty incredible when they do.
- When you think about it, you’ve got a top ten point guard as a rookie, a former All-Star shooting guard, a talented veteran defensive point, a pair of young athletic bigs… and um… John Salmons and Brad Miller. Who were terrible today. Now, the Celtics were missing the biggest piece of all in KG (we’ll get to him in a minute), but bear in mind this is a Bulls squad playing without Luol Deng. Good Lord.
- That said, we all know this Celtics squad as a whole is better.
- But that’s with KG.
- I’m not going to duck around it. KG not being on the bench in the second half? That was bad. I won’t classify it as unprofessional. The man’s been playing professional basketball for fourteen years. He’s earned the right to make that decision. And I won’t classify it as overdramatic. I understand how upset he gets and how intense he is. But that team needed him. I hope there wasn’t a specific reason he wasn’t on the bench. But if it was just that he was too upset, it’s a pretty big bummer. Because that team was schooled defensively inside over and over and over again. And even if he couldn’t be the one to bring man-help to the elbow when Rose got past whatever was in front of him, he could have at least been the one screaming at Perkins not to drift over to Salmons leaving Noah. Like I said, I don’t want to get into a question of whether it was right or not. That’s for KG and Boston fans to decide. But I do think he could have helped the team more by being on the bench.
- I’ve said this about a dozen times this season, but I’ll say it again. Paul Pierce is injured and has not been healthy since the knee injury in the Finals last year. The Celtics have been vauge about Pierce’s injury long before KG’s, and everyone assumed it was fine. For those of you that DVR’d the game, go watch the first possession for the Celtics. Pierce comes off a screen take the ball, spots up, and misses a jumper. If you watch him on the bottom of the screen, he comes up a little hobbling. He’s jogging at about 50%. Guess who’s streaking right in front of him? Joakim Noah. Pierce spends the rest of the game favoring his right knee.
- Pierce is a gamer. He’s a warrior. And he’s the _________ Truth. So that means he’s going to fight through anything he has to. But did anyone expect Pierce to miss that free throw, which was a half of a centimeter short? He almost got the roll. But it was short, lipped over, bounced off back rim and out. It was probably just a run of the mill miss, just poorly timed. But the injury makes more sense to me than “Paul Pierce missed a game winning free throw at home in the NBA Playoffs when everyone was counting on him.” Meanwhile, watching him run the rest of the time made me wince. Again, he still scored 23 points and had seven boards. I’m not saying he’s not getting the job done. I’m saying this team is relying on him to be The Man and he’s not 100% and the Celtics are in denial about that.
- At 7:30 in the 1st, Allen pump fakes, goes cross lane for the jumper. Tyrus Thomas recovers, skies, and blocks it to himself, and tips it to Noah. It’s unfathomable to me that a player of his athleticism that we’ve waited so long on could be coming into his own. It’s like Christmas. I almost renamed this blog “Tyrus Thomas Paroxysm” today after overtime.
- Watching Rajon Rondo blossom into this player has been awesome. He’s elite. I mean, he was elite before, but we’re talking top five, tied for 2nd best point guard good. Rondo doesn’t have Parker’s go-stop-go explosion (yet) but other than that, he’s like a bigger, more defensive Parker. He goes for the rim and just gets there. The Celtics would do well to turn to him more and Ray Allen less in key late-game situations.
- 4:21 1st Quarter. Joakim Noah goes left to right on Perkins and nails a left-handed hook. Turns out he’s actually been working on that one since last summer.
- Brad Miller was terrible. I will not say he is terrible. He’s shooting 47% in Chicago since the trade. But today he was 2-11. Every time he caught the ball on a pick and pop for a 15 footer, I would wince and the Celtics would rebound. It was atrocious. Then, when Pierce missed the 2nd free throw to take the lead at the end of regulation, with 2.1 seconds left, instead of giving the ball to Gordon, or Rose, or Salmons, or Devin Harris, or Luc Longley, or Del Harris, he heaved a one-handed shot. He did not connect. I was ready to lambast this particular effort. Then I called Rob.
- “Yeah, it was a terrible shot. But Gordon or Salmons hitting a ridiculous half-court shot at the buzzer is amazing. But BRAD MILLER hitting a full court ONE-HANDED heave to win is the greatest thing that could possibly happen and is hilarious.” A judge later upheld this ruling.
- Celtics are going to need to turn to Mikki Moore more. I understand this sounds insane. But they desperately needed athleticism at certian points. And Perkins, Powe, and Davis have the combined athleticism of Jabba The Hut.
- When Tim Thomas nailed a leaner, I knew. You could just tell. The fates had conspired.
- Stephon Marbury was scoreless and -4 in 10 minutes today.
- Of course, Brad Miller was +9, so…
- I cannot stress enough how well Ben Gordon played today. He didn’t shoot well. But we’ve seen Gordon try and shoot his way out of so many slumps. He took 17 shots through overtime, but he also worked within the flow of the offense. And when he did star taking those suicide jumpers in overtime, he was hot, so you can’t blame the guy. That’s what’s great about shooting. As long as you hit, no one cares about your shot selection (cough, LeBron, cough).
- There’s a certain righteousness to Vinny Del Negro looking like a genius today versus Doc Rivers after Doc embarassed Phil Jackson in the Finals last year. As the game wore on, you saw Doc Rivers come back to reality. He can’t manage a rotation, can’t find the matchups, and is reliant upon a pretty simple principle: “Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are better than their opponent.” When you remove that from the equation, Rivers, just forces that equation over and over again. No adjustment to let Rondo try and score, even though Rondo’s jumper was en fuego, and Ray Allen might as well have been Captain America frozen in an iceberg.
- Oh, but not that Vinny didn’t try to defeat himself. What? John Salmons is jacking threes with 17 seconds on the shot clock? Keep him in there. What? Brad Miller has killed four straight possessions? Let it ride! Woohoo!
- Thomas’ confidence in this game was lights out. He trusted his 15 footer, which is not worth trusting, and when he nailed it, nodded every time like “Of course I hit that. I’m Tyrus Thomas.” I wonder if he dances in traffic and when he gets to the other side, “Of course I wasn’t run over by a Mack Truck. I’m Tyrus Thomas.”
- The collision with 3:40 to go in the second is a great example for me to show my kids if I have them one day. Glen Davis takes Hinrich out of the play like a whale flopping on a beach. He turns his head to see if Hinrich keeps possession, then after it goes out of bounds, grabs his head as if he’s hurt. Meanwhile, Hinrich gets up-ended by the orca, and immediately gets to his feet to bo back to work. Then the Boston crowd objects to the call.
- I empathize with Barry commentating today. He knows Rose and Rondo aren’t great jump shooters. He’s prepared notes on how they’re not great jump shooters. Then they knock the lights out. And it’s frustrating because you know the numbers. And yet that’s not the story. It’s like when the Lakers shoot 60% and I say “they can’t shoot 60% all season.” And they don’t. But they do in all the games that matter. And then I look like a fool. That’s a lot like life, Timmy.
- At 2:12 in the second, Perkins covers the screen and roll on Rose, and does absolutely nothing to communicate that someone might want to cover Joakim Noah. Meanwhile, Glen Davis is worried about John Salmons hitting a baseline 14 foot J that even if he did catch to shoot, Davis would be unable to defend anyway.
- At 1:14 in the second, Ray Allen misses a wide open dunk. And again, you could just tell.
- Brad Miller has weak-side-itis. Versus Tyrus Thomas, who lives to block his man, Brad Miller is shopping for that weak side block. Which means that when Rondo bunny hops to the lane and dishes underneath to Davis, you can actually watch the air blow up his back from his man skyrocketing behind him to dunk.
- Derrick Rose looks pissed off. Right now. Twenty minutes ago. In four days. He has a mask of disgust plastered to his face.
- I’m less averse to cliches than I was a year ago. I really am. I understand where they come from, and simple messages get through to plyaers who often don’t have great mental clarity. But there’s a point where “We’re the Champs” is not enough. You’re a basketball team first. And if you don’t do the things that a good basketball team does, your ability to shine that ring and call it yours is not going to be enough. There is always someone younger, hungrier, and more brazen than you. Being a champions is more than just talking about it. It’s playing like it.
- At 8:56 3rd quarter,Rondo blows past Rose on a curl screen, cradles the ball, fakes the pass, fakes the shot, and delivers a look-off to Perkins. It was neither the first time Rondo would school Rose in this game nor the last time Rondo would make the right pass.
- One of the impressive things about Rose was that he consistently hit shots with someone in his face, in his grill, all over him. He just made the rough shots. Rivers never allowed Rondo that situation. Credit Del Negro for letting his star shine.
- The 3rd Quarter stretch for Rose was amazing. See the TrueHoop article for more. But let’s put it this way. I got two people in the bar to start watching the NBA because of Derrick Rose in that period.
- The Bulls are best with Rose, Gordon, and Hinrich on the floor. Unfortunately, that lineup represents the lollipop guild.
- If you’re into hyper-simplification: The Bulls challenged every shot, the Celtics did not. Nine blocks for the Bulls to seven for the Celtics. Plus two more that should have been that were called fouls.
- With 4:20 in the 3rd, the Celtics had numbers. Insted of attacking, they backed off and Pierce missed a three. This team last year would have stuck a dagger in their heart.
- Boston is still the better team because of their experience and knowledge. But they need to be aware that the Bulls effort will not decrease. They tasted blood.Specifically, Derrick Rose tasted blood. And he liked it.
- No pressure for tomorrow, Michael Beasley.
