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See you Sunday!
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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Yeah, OK, so after the Celtics’ 96-89 win over the Cavs tonight, they have to play Game 6 in Cleveland Friday. We all know what that means: another road loss, forcing another Game 7 in Boston. Isn’t that so yesterday?
Still, the Celtics came roaring from behind, falling behind by as many as 14 in the first half, going ahead by 12 with 5:48 before the Cavs mounted a comeback. They came close, too.
The Celts “held” James to 35 points–12 in the second half. The Celtics simply turned up the defensive screws in the second half, enforcing their take no prisoners policy in the lane, getting some great direction from Rajon Rondo, a huge physical lift from Big Baby Davis and the normal output from Garnett (26 points, 16 rebounds) and Pierce (29). Rondo had 20 points and 13 assists.
The troubling thing was that the Celts couldn’t put the Cavs away. The visitors staged a late rally and narrowed the lead to four with 45.5 seconds left, but the C’s hung on.
Truthfully, it was gratifying to see the Cetics play Celtics basketball again.
–Mike Fine
Beyonce
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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Just gotta say this, there’s a lot of actors here, most of whose names I don’t know, but when I mentioned Jay-Z earlier, I didn’t even notice that the girl sitting next to him was Beyonce. I feel like I’ve seen royalty.
–Mike Fine
Thank you for returning our Celtics
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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It was like someone threw a switch–or perhaps threatened them. After their 14-3 first-half finished, the Celtics continued their two-way play, going ahead, 72-63, after three. For those of you counting at home that’s a 43-20 run. The Celts hit six straight shots to surge into the lead and midway through the third had hit nine of 12 shots.
Rondo was the catalyst, attacking the basket beautfully, and his teammates seemed to pick up on it.
Defensively, the Celts kept the Cavs from hitting a field goal for more than four minutes, James hitting his only hoop of the quarter with 44.2 seconds remaining.
Still a ways to go, but these look like the Celtics again.
–Mike Fine
Men against boys
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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…and the Celtics aren’t the men. On the biggest stage, before such luminaries as Rob Lowe, the New England Patriots, and a guy I think but I’m not sure is Jay-Z, before a screaming home crowd and a national TV audience, the Celtics are looking like the teams that they manhandled throughout the season. There’s been barely a trace of an inside game, only a hint of an outside game, just a whiff of defense and even a lack of hustle at times.
That said, they trail by only three, 46-43, because after falling behind by as many as 14 late in the second quarter, they did start to show some signs of life (a 14-3 closing run), starting with two 3-pointers from Rajon Rondo, of all people (he also has seven assists). But the fact is, the Cavs’ interior defense is doing a job on them, and they’re being outshot, .471-.415, and let me tell you, those numbers were wildly skewed just a little while ago. They’re also being outscored at the line, 11-5.
LeBron James came out flying, and has 23 points at the half. Kevin Garnett is at 12 points, six rebounds, and Paul Pierce has 14 points. Ray Allen? 5 points. One positive: only seven first-half turnovers, to 11 for the Cavs.
These aren’t the Celtics that should be handling this Cleveland team on such a big stage. It’s a struggle, and unless the Celtics continue their late surge, they’re toast, because Game 6 is in Cleveland Friday night.
–Mike Fine
Who stole our Celtics?
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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The Celtics are down 5 after one, which wouldn’t be so troubling if they’d been displaying any of their usual consistency. Instead, they’ve been stymied by Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace in the middle and anemic shooting from outside.
They started with a 24-second violation after two blocks and a Rajon Rondo airball on their first possession and then added a defensive 3-second violation down the other end. Rondo then got blocked by Ilgauskas and Kendrick Perkins committed an offrensive foul.
The Celtics started out at 4-for-18 from the field, with LeBron James canning 11 points and Wally Szczerbiak eight, including two 3-pointers.
Finally, late in the quarter, after falling behind by as many as nine, the Celts showed some life, with Rondo and Paul Pierce rambling down the lane for layups, and James Posey for a reverse layup.
Down 23-18 and shooting 34.8 percent, the Celtics have to do a lot better than this.
–Mike Fine
Ainge grateful
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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Some of Danny Ainge’s thoughts on being named the NBA Executive of the Year:
–”I think it’s good to be selected by your peers. That makes it fun. But right now quite honestly I’m more excited about Game 5 and the birth of my sixth grandchild one hour ago. A little bit better accomplishments.”
–“I don’t want to diminish the award. It’s just that right now there’s just a lot of other things going on and I want the attention to stay on the players on the court. I’m a little uncomfortable with this right now. This is the biggest game of the year for us and for a lot of people. We’re still in the middle of trying to become the best team in the NBA and that’s really our objective.”
–“Our objectives are post-season awards and post-season success. Regular season success is good in its time. I’m probably not as appreciative of it at this moment as I should, since we’re getting ready for such a big game.”
–“The keys to putting this team in place, like I’ve always said, it starts with ownership and the owners have done some good things to make all of us look good, the players on the court, the coaches and the management. I think the keys are obviously the people in the trenches that are doing it. I have a great staff that works behind the scenes. Dave Wohl has done a very good job and John Niedangel helping us rebuild this, and Ryan McDonough, Mike Zarren, Leo Papile, those guys do a great job for us as well.”
By the way, Neidangel is “the Brain Doctor,” a guy who scans brain waves to ascertain the personality of a person. Ainge is a huge believer.
–Mike Fine
Calm before the storm
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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Game 5 is about half an hour away, and all is quiet, but here’s a look at what’s been happening behind the scenes as the players prepare for the most important game of the season:
–Danny Ainge gave a brief press conference acknowledging his winning the Sporting News Executive of the Year Award, He’s the second Celts exec to win it, Red Auerbach having done so for the 1979-80 season (an earlier press release incorrectly stated that Ainge was the first Celtic to win). Ainge was more excited about the birth of his sixth grandchild, a young lady named Sienna, to his eldest daughter, Ashley, just about an hour ago and wouldn’t get into much depth, saying only that he was more concerned with Game 5. More from Ainge later.
–The Cavs’ Delonte West is still dealing with a scratch to his left eye. He doesn’t know when it happened, but it affected him in Game 4 and he says he’ll leave the court when the Celts blow off their smoky pyrotechnics before Celts’ introductions. “It’s hard to play with one eye unless you’re a pirate,” he said.
–Paul Pierce was watching video in the Celts locker room at 6:45.
–Ray Allen spoke of Ainge glowingly, praising him for adding even more to the roster after he and Kevin Garnett signed.
–Cavs coach Mike Brown praised center Zydrunas Ilgauskas for his work ethic and said West should be good to go.
–Celts coach Doc Rivers ran his team through a 5:30 shootaround on the Garden court, once again coldly forcing the Celtics dancers to practice under the stands. Rivers talked about questions surrounding his team, and expectations, and the fact that the seven-game Atlanta series might have helped. But what else could he say?
All that’s left now is for the team to take the court.
–Mike Fine
Ainge Top Exec
Posted on May 14, 2008 by mfine
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Celts Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge has been named the NBA’s Executive of the Year. In a poll by The Sporting News, which conducts the voting, Ainge received 18 of 47 votes cast, with the Lakers Mitch Kupchak finishing second with 14 and New Orleans Jeff Bower 12. Ainge is the first Celtics executive to win the award, which seems rather startling given the history of this team.
If you ask me–sure, I know you didn’t–I can’t believe the voting was even this close.
A couple of quotes released by TSN: “He orchestrated a stunning and record-setting turnaround of a struggling team with two great trades and various other roster acquisitions.” said Brian Colangelo, President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors and the 2005 Executive of the Year.
Pat Williams, Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic added, “Ainge was the architect of the most dramatic NBA turnaround ever.”
–Mike Fine
Frustrated but focused
Posted on May 13, 2008 by mfine
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That pretty much sums up how the Celtics are feeling as they head into Game 5 tomorrow night. “I admit there s frustration,” veteran PJ Brown said. “Guys are comfortable at home.” He said that the situation, at least, hasn’t gotten out of hand.
“I just want us to play a consistent 48 minutes. We’ve had some good starts, some slow starts, too. We just want to be consistent, something we haven’t done as much as I’d like us to. We do feel confident we can come out and take care of business.”
The Celtics didn’t exactly practice today. They looked at films and walked through some stuff, finishing off by shooting around after the game. Kevin Garnett blew off the media again, as he often does, but Paul Pierce spoke. “This is a three-game series with two here, one on the road,” said Pierce, who’s averaging only 12.5 points per game in the series, “so it puts us in position where we definitely have to win (Game 5). We know we haven’t been playing well on the road.
“They all feel urgent, man. Whenever you have a 2-2 series and you’re going into Game 5 knowing that you’ve gotta win, you kind of want to treat it like a Game 7 because you can’t count on winning Game 6. So you put yourself into position where you want to go up, 3-2. It takes a little bit of pressure off and you want to go on the road and close it.
“So we’re treating this like our backs are against the wall, which it really is. No team has an advantage right now other than we have home court, but anything can happen in the playoffs.”
Doc Rivers showed his team films and walked through some things Tuesday. He tried to stress that there needn’t be a rush to shoot, or a feeling that each player has to do more than he’s capable of.
Some topics Rivers addressed:
Are the Celtics mentally tough? “We’ll find that out. It’s a 2-2 series. We have home court. I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think you can make that statement if we keep winning and moving forward. Everything we’ve gone through is for the first time. These are all new situations, but we knew that going into the season. It happens. Hell, I heard Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) talking about it and they’ve been together seven years. The tighter games are, the more that’s challenged.”
Kevin Garnett’s going scoreless in the fourth quarter of Game 4: “It’s 1-on-1 coverage for the most part. (Anderson) Varejao did a terrific job. We’ve got to get them in better places. And we’ve pulled the trigger too quick.”
Rajon Rondo (15 points) in Game 4? “Terrific. His decisions were right. That was his best game in this series. He was aggressive—aggressive to make plays, not to score. He’s one of those guys who could have thought, ‘I’ve got to get myself going.’ But he took LeBron’s (James) approach: ‘I’ve gotta make some plays.’”
Sam Cassell and Eddie House? “As a coach you always have the Sam and Eddie question. I’m smart enough to understand it.” Rivers said that the backup who’s playing best will get the minutes, but Cassell was 0-for-11 in two games at Cleveland.
Does he think losing on the road is in his players’ heads? “I don’t. sometimes a team wants to win so bad that it gets in the way of itself. I don’t see that.”
James? “He’s hurting us more than people are giving credit. He’s making great plays. But we’re allowing him to make more plays than we should be.”
–Mike Fine
KG cleaning up
Posted on May 12, 2008 by mfine
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So, after already having been named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-NBA first team, Kevin Garnett has just been honored as a first-team All-Defensive selection. Garnett and Laker Kobe Bryant each received 24 first-place votes and 52 overall points to lead everybody.
Garnett’s teammate, Rajon Rondo, wasn’t named to either the first or second team but made an impressive showing with 11 points, and three first-place votes. Paul Pierce had two points.
Rounding out the first team was Marcus Camby of Denver and San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan.
This is Garnett’s ninth All-Defensive selection.
