It is amazing to me as I watch Dirk Nowitski in the 3 point shootout. A 7 footer that can shoot 3's like that. It seems like more and more bigs are moving out away from the basket and the old fashioned bang under the basket bigs of the olden days are going by the wayside. I guess that is why I like Perk and Powe so much. They are bigs of the old style. Not to mention they both have incredible work ethics.
In a year, two at the most, Rondo will be in the Skills contest and will probably win it. The skills that they test there is where Rondo excels. In another year, his shot will be more accurate and he will be the PG on a championship team.
The Slam Dunk contest was incredible. It is the best one I have seen. Gerald's Birthday Cake dunk deserved a 10 but that is neither here nor there because Dwight Howard deserved the win. Every one of his dunks were creative and amazing. Maybe Gerald can use this to work harder on his overall game instead of concentrating on being a dunker. I like Gerald and wish the best for him. This dunk of Howard's was off the charts. It will be one of the very best of all time, I am sure. Simply amazing. Seems like a nice guy too in spite of his swing at Rondo.
Doctor J is one of the classiest people on this earth. He has always been one of my favorite players, even though he wasn't a Celtic. I really liked the way he explained how hard Gerald's barefoot dunk really was when a lot of people might have dismissed it as nothing much. On the other hand, I never liked Darryl Dawkins and still don't.
Steve Nash only got 9 points in the 3 point shootout. That is pretty embarassing. I never thought of Steve Nash as a particularly good 3 point shooter but I guess he is if they invited him. But then again, it is way different in the contest than it is in games. I remember Danny Ainge participating in two of the 3 point contests that Larry Bird won. In one of them, Danny had a particularly bad showing, but he was a great 3 point shooter in games. Bird was great in that contest. He played mind games with the other contestants, though. Like his first one when he walked into the locker room before the contest and asked who was playing for second. You can talk trash when you can back it up. Or the last one that he won where he didn't even take off his warmups and as soon as the ball left his hands, he held up his finger and walked to mid court. He needed that last shot to win and he was so sure of himself, he had no doubt that it would go in. Bird didn't shoot jumpers like a lot of players, he shot set shots and that saved his legs for the last round whereas others may have tired out by the end. I wonder why Ray Allen doesn't get invited to the shootout since everyone, including the ever critical Charles Barkley, that Ray Allen is the best shooter in the game.
Speaking of Ray Allen. He seemed to be enjoying himself at yesterday's practice. Doc asked the team if they wanted to walk through some plays or do shooting drills and it took Ray about half a second to shout out "Shooting drills." Ray Allen really hasn't played well so far this season. You know he is capable of playing much better and that should be scary to the teams we will face in the second half of the season. Ray is going to get it going. With Ray shooting from the outside like he is capable of, and a rested KG back and ready to go, and the bench playing like they have been in his absence, the Celtics are a scary team indeed.
KG was there at the East practice yesterday and launched a half court shot along with the others. That is a good sign that the ab strain is pretty much healed. Doc would never have let him do that otherwise. He is going to go through a heavy workout today and if all goes well, he will return to the lineup in Denver on Tuesday. This would be good news for the Celtics since they are facing a tough Western trip and having KG back would be a big boost. Something tells me that he is going to come back with a vengeance. No news yet about Perk's shoulder although he sounded like he expected to be back after the break. I know one thing, Perk didn't take a vacation and is rehabbing his shoulder as hard as he can so he can come back.
KG seems like he is having a great time in New Orleans. He was there to support Rondo in the Rookie Challenge and at one point called him over for a hug. In the East practice today, while his friend, Chauncey Billups, was participating in the half court shooting contest, KG grabbed the mike and said, “It looks good. It ain’t hitting nothin’, but it looks good.”
While at times, Doc has done some things that make me scratch my head, like keeping Powe on the bench when we were getting killed on the boards by Washington and playing small ball when the other team is big and gobbling up every rebound, but overall, I think Doc Rivers is the perfect coach for this team. As the season has gone on, he has been making better decisions in games and I think he is a better coach today than he was at the beginning of the season. I contribute some of that to KG and his cast of veteran players this season. Not just because the veteran players can execute better, but because of their input. This video from YouTube is a case in point.
That is one instance, but I can imagine in every huddle, Ray Allen, James Posey, and KG are giving Doc input and he is smart enough to know when they are right. Another reason that Doc has been so successful this season is that he brought in Tom Thibodeau. The last few seasons one of our biggest failings was that we didn't play defense and were never able to get stops down the stretch of games and we lost way too many games by 5 points or less because of it. The one thing that you can say distinguishes this year's team is their defense and it has been the defense that has won quite a few games this season when the offense seemed to sputter. Tom Thibodeau is the one responsible for that and he is very hands on. He is up and yelling instructions on the sidelines every bit as much as Doc is. If Tony Brown was still in charge of our defense, I just don't see this team being as dominant. KG said it perfectly in this morning's Herald.
“Great job,” he said. “Great job, man. Obviously, I’ve had numerous coaches in my years, and he is the best at motivating players, being very straightforward and the same time being soothing and understanding. It’s a rare mix.”
Doc is the perfect coach for this team just like KG Jones was the perfect coach for the '86 team. It takes a player's coach and a coach who is good with people to manage a team full of superstars. Doc is smart enough to take their input into consideration when coaching and he has been doing it and in the process becoming a much better coach.
Lance Allred was the HORSE champion for the D-League. He also played in the D-League All Star Game. He played for the Celtics summer league team, but didn't stick. He is legally deaf and should be an inspiration to anyone with a handicap that you can do whatever you set your mind to and want to work hard enough for.
Lost in all the excitement of All Star weekend, Atlanta traded Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright and draft pick for Mike Bibby. I kind of had a hope in the back of my mind that we might get Lue for a back up to Rondo since Lue for Scal works salary wise and Lue is a good friend of KG's. Lots of big stars on the move this season. All these teams are taking chances now in an effort to match up with Boston. It will be interesting to see how these teams finish the season after their big mid season trades. The trading deadline is coming up quickly. I don't see Danny making a trade as much as I see him looking for a player who is cut from a team or maybe a player who is a free agent. Or, he may just stand pat with what we have. With Big Baby and Leon Powe coming on now and with Pollard hopefully getting healthy we seem to be ok at the 4 and 5. We could use a back up point guard, but Eddie House has been playing well as has Tony Allen. It would be nice to get Pruitt some playing time now to see if he can be counted on if needed in the playoffs.
