CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: NBA's Scariest Team

October 15, 2006

Chris Vining of Hot Sauce Sports has an article that pegs the Celtics as the league's scariest team. He is alternately positive and negative about the team throughout the entire article.

Watching the Celtics preseason games and looking at their roster has to worry any opponent. They are impossible to match up with; however, they can go from the best to worst team in basketball from game to game. Throw in a coach who is more focused on traveling to his Florida home that mentoring his young players, and the C's are a recipe for disaster. The saving grace is that this team could frustrate opponents with match up problems that could make them impossible to defend against.

While I agree that the Celtics are going to cause opponents problems once they get used to playing together and once Doc gets the rotations down, I don't have the negative feeling about the team that he does. I feel that the first game is more of what we will be seeing on a regular basis this season. We will see improvement with each game they play. If we set the pace and play our game, we are going to be very tough to match up with. I don't know about Doc yet. So far, he hasn't shown me anything that proves he can be a competent coach.

He makes the point that Perk is a rising star and Powe is a future star and I heartliy agree with that assessment. He also makes the suggestion that Boston can field 2 separate teams, a point I made a couple of weeks ago in an article here on Loy's Place. I think this could work and would give each of the teams even better chemistry by playing together all the time.

The Celtics can match up with anyone, but that isn't their style. They like to play their game on their terms. This team can be explosive (two straight 110+ point nights) or awful (followed by a 38 turnover game and then not breaking 80 points the next night). This is a young team with more chips in their hand than a poker champion. The Celtics could easily trade three or four players and get some veterans in return, to help balance out the roster. That just isn't Danny Ainge's style, or else Kevin Garnett or Allen Iverson would be joining Paul Pierce on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

Yes, we can match with anyone and we will create matchup problems for other teams this season and we will run and because we are deep will be able to wear other teams down by the end of games. He then goes on to harp a bit on our 38 turnovers. Yes, 38 turnovers is an incredible amount, but what is even more incredible is that we still had a chance to win that game with 38 turnovers. We cut that number down to 13 the next night. We are going to have some growing pains getting used to running and the new point guards, and will from time to time have too many turnovers, but as with everything else, I expect this to get better game by game as well. I agree with this writer that the Celtics are going to be one of the scariest teams this season... but for all the good reasons, not the bad.

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source:Hot Sauce Sports
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Comments:

What was up with the Doc Rivers quote about traveling to Florida quote in the article? I agree with many of your points, but I'm very concerned about the team. I know everybody loves Sebastian Telfair, and I know it's only pre-season, but there was a noticeable difference between when Telfair was running the show and when Rondo was in charge. Rondo just seems to blend in better. He seems to always know where everyone is on the floor, and he turned the corner on T.J. Ford (considered the fastest guy in the league) several times the other night. So far, Sebastian has been a "ball-stopper." There's only 24 seconds per possesion, and if Telfair's holding the ball for 15, the offense is going to look stagnant. Personally, I think Telfair's game has been over-rated, primarily because of the movie that was made about him. Sure, he tears it up to the point where your jumping out of your seat, but he's doing it against High School players, and he just hasn't proven anything at the NBA level yet. This is why I don't understand why everyone thinks he can just step into the starting point guard position and take this team to the playoffs. If anything, Rondo's a much better candidate based on his speed and defensive ability.

# posted by

Jason McElwaine : 3:46 AM

Welcome Jason! I agree with you about Telfair and Rondo. I have said that since summer league. The team seems to play so much more under control when Rondo is at the point. I also feel that Rondo's defense sets him apart from Telfair, and we desperately need more defense on that first unit. I am not sure it is Doc travelling to FL that is his problem. I think it is just that he is not a very good in game coach. He is the weak link in this team this season.

# posted by

FLCeltsFan : 7:07 AM

Hey there, Jason. Thanks for stopping by. You come here often?

Yes, Rajon is definitely an exciting player and he has the potential to be a stud PG in the NBA. He's a guy with tremendous insticts and incredible ball handling ability. But more than that, the guy just has so much feel for the game. You can tell that he feels the tempo a lot better than Telfair.

But I'm not ready to give up on Telfair yet. He does have his problems, one glaring one being his tendency to hold onto the ball. Thus, he kills the tempo. What Telfair needs to learn from Rajon is to give up the ball quicker. He doesn't need to wait for the perfect play to materialize. Often times, moving the ball around the court will get someone open and the quicker you get rid of the ball, the more the tempo flows. I think Telfair realizes this, and he did seem to do a better job in the 3rd preseason game.

But if Rajon wins the PG battle, I'll be a very happy fan. Actually, Rajon looked more impressive in the McDonald's All-American game when he and Telfair (and Jefferson) competed on the same floor. I was sold on Rajon even from back then.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 2:12 AM