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RETRIEVING CONTENT...PLEASE WAIT
Celtics Open the Season 0-3
Sunday, November 5, 2006
by FLCeltsFan 10:13 AM
November 5, 2006 Celtics seem to have fixed their offense, sort of, but forget about the defense. The Celtics shot 52% from the floor, but then, so did the Wizards. The difference is that the Wizards took care of the ball and the Celtics didn't with 20 turnovers once again. The Wizards seemed to play with hustle and toughness and the Celtics seemed sluggish and tentative. Perk came out playing tough but was rewarded by 4 quick fouls and a 4 stitch gash over Wally's eye and he sat the rest of the game after only 10 minutes. It seemed that the Wizards hustled for every loose ball and went for every pass and they ended up with 11 steals to only 2 for Boston. We just weren't aggressive on defense.
Another sad tale is that the Wizards had 27 fast break points to only 14 for the Celtics. So much for our alleged transition game. We were stuck in a half court game for the most part with the occasional fast break thrown in. We didn't run, we didn't press and for the most part, didn't defend. We did out rebound the Wizards 43 to 28 but then turned those rebounds over for the most part.
 Wally played much of the game with 4 stitches over his eye courtesy of a collision with Perk.
West once again struggled with his game going 1 for 3 and scoring only 5 points in 11 mostly uneventful minutes. Rondo once again had a fairly forgettable game with 4 points and no assists in 14 minutes. Tony Allen had 9 points and 5 assists but he seems to play out of control the entire time he is out there and gives the impression that he is trying too hard. Gerald made a 7 minute cameo appearance with 3 points on 1 of 3 shooting to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 fouls. Doc says that he is close to earning more playing time and we should see him get more minutes in the future. Perk picked up 4 quick fouls and had 2 turnovers. One stood out because Pierce had the ball and had an open shot and instead of shooting, he passed it inside to Perk who was already positioned for the rebound in a crowd of white jerseys and he had to change course and quickly try to get the pass but couldn't handle it. In fairness to Perk, he didn't play as badly as the box score looks.
On the positive side, Wally seemed to find his shooting touch after having a gash opened up above his eye that required 4 stitches and scored 33 points on 10 of 16 shooting with 5 rebounds and 2 assists but still turned the ball over 4 times. Telfair seemed to have a break out game with 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting to go with 6 assists and 3 turnovers. But along the same lines, Arenas torched us for 44 points.
 Telfair scored 23 points to go with 6 assists but did little to stop Gilbert Arenas.
Kandi came in and did a good job in 7 minutes of play and seems to be a good pick up for the veteran minimum. Gomes had a solid game, but not a remarkable one, grabbing 7 rebounds and scoring 6 points. Al once again looked very solid with 10 points and 7 rebounds. One statement that bothered me in the paper is this:
Still, the coach is looking for Jefferson to be a better teammate offensively and more physical overall. "He's playing much better as far as when he gets the ball on the post," said Rivers. "Where he has to improve is to get other people shots . . . Even though when he gets it, it's good, there's times when he doesn't follow through getting others their shots. That's his first job, to get Paul [Pierce] and Wally [Szczerbiak] open. Jefferson is a big man, supposed to be playing under the basket. His job is to get position and receive the ball and score down low as well as to rebound and to intimidate in the middle. I can agree that he needs to be more physical, but like Perk, he has drawn quick fouls and plays tentatively at times to avoid fouling. It is not Al's job to get Wally and Pierce open shots. That is a point guard's job. Al should think score first if the ball comes in to him and he has a shot, not pass back to Wally or Pierce. Herein lies a problem with our bigs. Doc doesn't have a clue how to use bigs and what their roles should be.
 Gomes and Al both had solid games
One of our problems has been toughness and defense. You would think that Doc would at least give Powe a try in the game. He brings both of those much needed qualities and couldn't be worse than the players that Doc has been using. Now, Scal and Ratliff appear ready to return and my fear is that Doc will once again turn to Scal to do all his little things that do more to lose a game than to win it while Powe will languish on the IL.
[Box Score] [Recap] [Play by Play]
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