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RETRIEVING CONTENT...PLEASE WAIT
Celtics Win Second Straight in Spite of Blowing 23 Point Lead
Thursday, March 1, 2007
by FLCeltsFan 9:57 AM
March 1, 2007
Before the game report, I have a few things to vent. First, Doc is a terrible coach. Is that a news flash? 3 games ago, he finally gave Powe a chance to play and came out afterwards saying how much he likes Powe and how he is an instigator and the Celtics need that and Leon would be playing a lot more. Ok, next game Doc starts him. The kid goes from a gazillion DNP's in a row to starter. Doc plays him 24 minutes and again, he impresses and does a good job. Next game he starts again and plays 3 minutes. Last night he was back to DNP. Another case in point. Bassy played very well in Houston and Doc admitted that his play was the reason for the win. He played good defense and played the point very well. His reward for that great play? A DNP against NY. Rondo went from starting to back up and gets anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. He continues to come off the bench in spite of good evidence that he is the PG of our future and given consistent playing time would be the PG of the present. West gets jerked around from point guard to shooting guard and back again. Does Doc realize how much he is messing with their psyches and confidence? Doc starts Scal at center and plays him 37 minutes at the 4 and 5 and he doesn't come up with even 1 rebound? But he shot lots of 3's, hitting only 4-9. The problem with Scal is that he hits a few 3's in a row and then shoots every time he gets the ball. Unfortunately, he isn't playing inside like a center or power forward should, he is wandering out on the arc launching 3's. It is enough to make me spill my green koolaid. I keep worrying that Doc will be back next season and I don't know if these players, in spite of their talent, can survive another season playing under Doc.
Now that that is over, on to the Game Report. The Celtics started out strong and built a 20 point lead in the first half. They shared the ball, hit their shots and played defense. They stretched the lead to 23 before forgetting how to beat the zone and play defense and allowed the Knicks to get back into the game and even take the lead in the 4th quarter. But, give them credit, the Celtics never gave up and behind Al and Green, they persevered to win the game 102-94.
Al Jefferson once again proved that he is a dominant low post threat. He finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. Most importantly, he was the go to guy down the stretch and he produced. Also coming up big down the stretch was Gerald Green who finished with 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 20 minutes of play. It has to make a Celtics fan excited to see the promise that these two players show. They are the future and hopefully Danny will realize that and keep them on the team.
Pierce was able to relax somewhat and watch his young teammates take over down the stretch, although he hit several big shots in the fourth as well. But the pressure wasn't on him to take over the game and that was the difference down the stretch. Pierce finished with 24 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Gomes had a quiet game with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, but one thing about Gomes is that he never hurts you and rarely makes mistakes that cost the team.
Perk got the start tonight as I had hoped he would. He started in place of Powe, instead of Scal, though so it was a hollow triumph to see him start. But Perk produced and played great defense on Curry pretty much shutting him down when he was in the game and finished with 0 points (he only took 1 shot) but he did have 4 assists, finding the open man when he got the ball inside and was doubled. He also pulled down 8 rebounds and had a steal. Scal played 37 minutes between the 4 and the 5 spots and didn't get even 1 rebound. How can that be? Doc, come on! Sure he hits the 3 from time to time (he was 4-9 from beyond the arc tonight) but we need more than that from the starting bigs. Continuing to start Scal and play him big minutes puts us at a disadvantage against the front lines of other teams. But maybe that is Doc's plan all along. What better way to tank?
I have no idea how long it will take for Doc to realize that Rondo is our best PG. Maybe he never will. He continues to start West, who isn't doing a bad job, but Rondo is better. Also, it isn't fair to West who would thrive if moved to the 2 and was able to find his role and stick to it. West finished with 6 points on 2-6 shooting with 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Rondo was everywhere last night scoring 4 points with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. The team plays so much better with him at the point. I wish Doc would start Rondo and back him up with Telfair and let them build their confidence and we would have a good 1-2 punch at the point. West would give us so much more at the 2 guard.
We played very well as a team, limiting our turnovers to 14 and shooting 51% from the field and 53% from beyond the arc. We had 28 assists on 34 field goals, which shows that we are sharing the ball and finding the open man. It helped that our bigs were finding the open man when they were doubled inside. Perk and Al are both becoming very good passing big men. We also won the battle on the boards 38-35, although when the Knicks made their comeback in the second half, they were out rebounding us through that stretch. All in all it was a good win. They were missing some of their key players but it is hard to feel sorry for them because we are too. Wally, Ratliff, and Tony are out. Perk is still playing at about 60% as he continues to play in pain. Pierce is probably only at 75% as well. And we have Doc as a coach that really puts us at a disadvantage. Even Isaiah is a better coach than Doc and that is pretty bad.
[Box Score]
[Recap]
[Play by Play]
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