We have seen our share of injuries as the result of the Celtics spirited practices and now we have one more. According to the Globe, Ray Allen missed part of Saturday afternoon's practice after Perk's elbow caught him above his eye and sent him to the team's Health Point facility for stitches.
Coach Doc Rivers described the clash as an accident, since both Allen and Perkins were playing together, during a "skeleton" drill, which does not include a defending team.
"It was a 'skeleton' drill, no defense," Rivers said. "We thought he was goofing around when he went down. But then we saw the blood."
Allen and Perkins were working a hand-off play, Perkins keeping possession as Allen cut past him. But Perkins, holding the ball, brought his elbow down as Allen raced by.
And this is what happens when they aren't playing defense. The article says that Ray's status for Tuesday's opener in Cleveland has not been determined. I can't see Ray missing the season opener for a few stitches above his eye unless it is a lot worse than they are saying. If he can open his eye, I will bet he'll be playing.
Allen hit the ground grabbing his eye, according to Rivers who initially thought Allen was joking. “All of a sudden he was laying down and all of a sudden you saw the blood and said, ‘Oh no, I don’t think he’s faking.’”
Rasheed Wallace said the injury did not affect the Celtics energy during practice.
“We’re still going hard, still intense,” he said. “Unfortunately it happened but we can’t sit up here and be sad and be down on ourselves, like oh man Ray got hurt. No, we’ve still got to go out there and play.”
No, the Celtics don't have an open roster space to sign Lue as a PG, but according to the Globe, they have signed him as Director of Player Development. There have been many Celtics fans advocating the signing of Lue as the back up PG. They could certainly do worse (see Marbury, Stephon and Cassell, Sam).
The Celtics currently have point forward Marquis Daniels and shooting guard Eddie House who fill in at the point as well as a young PG with promise in Lester Hudson. They also have 15 players under guaranteed contract. According to the article, Lue will "work with the coaching staff and observe practices." I'm thinking that this is insurance in case they decide that Daniels is more needed as a defensive 3 instead of bringing the ball up and setting up the offense. And just in case they realize that Eddie is much more effective as a spot up shooter instead of having to run the offense. And in case they realize that Tony is much better on someone else's team. In that case, they have a PG in the stable who already knows the Celtics system and can step in and back up Rondo at any given time.
The article says that Lue isn't expected to resume his playing career, but I wouldn't bet on it. The fact that Lue and KG are best friends and that Lue had a hand in convincing KG to come to Boston more than likely helped to sway the decision to hire him. He is a quality veteran with championship experience. Whether he eventually slips into the back up PG spot or he is insurance just in case, or even if he just works with the players in practice, it was a very good move.
Thinking back to the 2008 Finals and the ESPN experts picks for the championship as seen in the graphic above, there was just one who gave the Celtics a chance to win. A couple even picked the Lakers in 5. Going into this season there I was looking over the ESPN "expert" picks for this season and once again, there isn't a lot of love for the Celtics. While 4 of their experts do pick the Celtics to be 1st in the East, 5 pick them to come in 3rd and a 6th says they will be 2nd.
I got to the individual player awards and for the Defensive Player of the Year, there were a couple of surprise picks. There are the expected 14 votes for Dwight Howard. Then there is Jemele Hill's vote for Ron Artest (Has she watched him play recently?) And Jack Ramsey's very surprise vote for Mickael Pietrus. Chris Sheridan cast his vote for Rajon Rondo which kind of goes with the GM survey that Rondo ties Kobe for best on the ball defender. JA Adande and Andrew Ayres both feel that KG will recapture the award this season. Personally, I'll go with the 2 who picked KG. He is going to have a great season this year after being deprived of the last half of the season last year.
2 Celtics got consideration for Sixth Man as Marc Stein, JA Adande and Chris Sheridan voted for Sheed and Jon Barry and Jack Ramsey voted for Quisy. Other then these two, there were quite a few others getting consideration: Paul Milsap 1, Lamar Odom 3, Ben Gordon 1, Rudy Fernandez 1, Jason Terry 1, Manu Ginobili 4, Leandro Barbosa 1, Jamaal Crawford 1, Rafer Alston 1, and Nate Robinson 1. It isn't a surprise, but I'd say the Celtics have a shot at this one with either Quisy or Sheed. Quisy is going to be more versatile and Sheed will be a key player, but which one has a better shot at the 6th man depends on who Doc brings in first.
No surprises, but they don't expect any Celtics to be Rookie of the Year as their only candidate is Lester Hudson and it would be a huge upset for the 57th pick to overtake either Blake Griffin or Tyreke Evans who are the picks of choice. And there are no Celtics mentioned for Most Improved Player either. As with the 6th man, there are a variety of opinions with the most votes going to Andrew Bynum. Bynum has too much of an opinion of himself to be most improved. I'd say that Perk and Rondo have a good chance at this one but I guess I'm on my own with that one.
I was most surprised to see that not one "expert" thinks that Doc Rivers will be Coach of the Year. 3 pick the Zen Mistress and we all know that he really isn't that great of a coach. Give him a team that isn't ready made with a superstar or two in place and he would be just another scrub coach. And when he did have 2 superstars on his team, he couldn't manage them. A good coach can manage his players, even if one player is a self centered jerk like Kobe. Flip Saunders and Rick Carlisle each got 3 votes. and Scott Brooks (who?) got 2 votes.
Not one Celtic was considered for MVP. There is the usual LeBron love with 13 votes, along with 2 for Kobe, 1 for Chris Paul, 3 for Dwight Howard, 1 for Dwyane Wade, and 1 for Carmelo Anthony.
I didn't see the votes for the Champions but I'm sure that the few who picked the Celtics to get out of the East also picked them to lose to the Lakers. who are a unanimous pick to win the West. I still say being the underdog is a good thing. While everyone is gunning for the media darling Fakers, the Celtics can stay under the radar as they win their 18th championship.
In a move that should surprise nobody, the Celtics waived Michael Sweetney in order to get the roster down to the league maximum of 15 players. We had seen several comments from Yahoo that suggested that Doc was set on keeping Sweetney but in order to do so, Danny would have had to make a trade or the team would have had to eat a guaranteed contract. Doc has had some really good things to say about Sweetney though and I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps an eye on what Sweets is doing and perhaps if Sweetney keeps working on getting into shape, and some team wants Tony for a second round pick or something like that, it's possible that Doc may bring him back.
Back in September, Celtics Hub ran a contest where you could win free Converse Weapon Shoes for hating on the Lakers. Anyone who talks to me for more than 1 minute or so knows that my hatred for the Fakers runs long and deep. I've lots of stories about how much I hate the Fakers. I posted one of them and to my surprise, Zach sent me an email to let me know I had won a pair of the Converse Weapons. As you can see above they are incredibly classy looking shoes (unlike the Fakers' version that is incredibly ugly. If you don't believe me, see for yourself.) I could have shared a lot of anecdotes over the years of how much I hate the Fakers, even including turning down a teaching job because their school colors were purple and gold. Here is the anecdote that I shared on Celtics Hub and that won the shoes.
I have been a Celtics fan since high school back in the 60’s. And needless to say, I have always had an intense dislike for anything Laker related. One time my son (who was in middle school) brought a friend home from school who had the misfortune of wearing a Lakers tee shirt. I made him wear wear a shirt over it while he was in the house so I didn’t have to look at it. He didn’t come back again. He thought I was a bit deranged because he was wearing the shirt just cause he thought it was cool and didn’t understand why I didn’t like it.
And for a bit of nostagia. Here are the original Converse commercials for the converse weapons with Larry Bird. Who knew Isiah was so short?
And while I am handing out thanks, a big thankyou to JR over on Celtics Life, which is a great new Celtics site that you should check out if you haven't already. On the opening night of the preseason, JR was giving out prizes for the answers to trivia questions in the game chat. I correctly answered the question as to who the coach before Doc Rivers was and won a tee shirt. And can you guess what the shirt says? It says "I hate LA" in big green letters!
So, thank you to Zach and JR for starting my season off on a very high note. Now it's on to the regular season and Banner 18. It's going to be a very fun season, especially with great sites like Celtics Hub and Celtics Life around to share it with!!
Boston may not play the key guys tonight. BummerI was hoping they would so we could get a feel of where the Cavs stand before the season starts..
I had a feeling they would do something like that......I mean they did just lose to the Knicks last nighttoo. Who cares though. They can run but they can't hide
Who cares who's starting for Bostonlet the starters see what kind of destruction they are in for Tuesday
Pierce is a Chucker!
Kendrick Perkins is a big man...and next to Shaqhe looks medium sized...that's how huge Shaq is...
I cannot stand the Boston telecasters. There is never a foul on Boston but always a foul on the other team.
Paul Pierce is amazing with that pull-up game...LBJ has often said he's one of the top-5 in the league in that area around the free throw line...and when they get in that zonenobody can stop them...
Glen Davis>Rasheed
Perk and Sheed are going to be a great combo on the T's
Pierce is a beast when he plays LBJ. That was damn good defense and he still hit it.
That shot is why I hate Paul Pierce... Best mid range J in the league.
Now I'm nervousthey're staying ahead this long without KG and Ray..
Rondo is always getting tossed by Lebron
BOS looks good...defense definitely needs some work
Marquis Daniels is lookin' nice .......
Boston's defense looks great. Ours.. Not so much.
Boston looks hungry and they're shooting lights out from the perimeter.
Lebron's shot looks funky tonight...like he hired Shawn Marion as a shooting coach or something.
Since when can Shelden shoot?
I'd prefer Boston's starters to be playing instead of the bench. Williams and Daniels are tearing it up.
Good news = Sheed can't defend Shaq. So if BOS tries trotting him out there to spread the floor at C we will have a big advantage on the other end. Only guy they have to defend him is Perkins who is foul prone
Some guy named Hudson is nailing threes with Lebron in his face..... Yep it's preseason.
If Rondo has added that mid range jumper he is easily a top 5 PG in the league.
Rasheed sneaking an elbow at Mo Williams while looking like a peace keeper.
Shelden trying to fight MO REALLY? Boston has more and more thugs every year I guess
Mr. Candace Parker seriously needs to be put in his place.
Our starters are losing to there scrubs. This isnt good.
Marquis Daniels was a nice pick up by Boston....he'll help them...
Even though its just preseason watching this game is making me nervous for the season
Sheed looks so fat
A big three-less Boston spanking our starters cuz delonte isnt here
We're playing our starters, they are without KG, Ray, and Baby Davis... They are still outclassing us.
Preseason or no preseason, this is embarrassing.
People who say there's nothing to worry about are in denial. We're getting killed and they don't have KG or Ray. I think we should be a little upset. We need to make some changes...
I'd rather gets our butts kicked in preseason.... Cavs will have a chip on their shoulder come next week.
Shaq/Andy duo simply won't work. We have terrible spacing out there and it won't get better unless Shaq adds a 18 ft jumper to his arsenal.
We certainly aren't going to expose to Boston all our cards.
Daniels owning Moon = a problem to me.
They will be matched up in the 2nd unit, hopefully it's just a hot night from Daniels but it seems like when he sees Moon he goes right at him..
Gotta admit Daniels was a good pickup. Everyone overlooked it. His production for 2 mil a season is a steal.
I'm sorry but I'm not real confident we will win on Tuesday. We've played our main players besides Delonte a lot and the Celts aren't even playing KG
I hope they are just holding it all Back until next Tues. , Lure Boston into a false sense of Hope ...
Rondo and Perkins are quickly climbing the list of my most hated NBA players of all time.
Add Eddie House to my list of most hated players
Daniels is a streaky player, ideal for a bench role and will do a good job for Boston. But don't be shocked if he is MIA next outing. He is that type of player.
"Pretty nice defense by Eddie House"
..yeah, if poking someone in the eye is nice defense
Their scrubs beat our starters... I know it's the preseason, but this ones a bit worrisome.
at Boston Celtics (5-2) at Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3)
Wednesday, October 21
7:00 PM ET
TV: CSN HD, LP 752
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Doc has said that he is going to sit out his starters in this game. He doesn't want his veterans to get hurt by young players trying too hard to make a team. So, I don't have a clue who will sit and who Doc will play. He may even start his regular 5 and sit them after a few minutes. After Doc spent 2 days talking about about how he was going to start Marquis Daniels and then starting Rondo anyway, anything can happen.
So, here are your Boston Celtics and 5 will start and 11 will not. That's as close to a prediction as I can make.
Ray Allen
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Marquis Daniels
Big Baby Davis
Kevin Garnett
JR Giddens
Eddie House
Lester Hudson
Kendrick Perkins
Paul Pierce
Rajon Rondo
Brian Scalabrine
Bill Walker (knee) out
Rasheed Wallace
Shelden Williams
Mike Sweetney (flu) out
This is the Cavaliers final game before the regular season as well. However, the Cavs are in a much different place as a team than the Celtics are. The Cavs have had flu and injuries deplete their team and so they haven't been able to see their starters play together or get any kind of regular rotation going. Mike Brown has said that he plans to start what he hopes to be his regular starters of LeBron, Varejao, Shaq, Parker, and Williams since they haven't gotten that much time as a team will all the flu and injuries. But then again, who knows.
Here's the enemy. Again, 5 will start, 13 will not
Andre Barrett (flu) day to day
Daniel Gibson (tail bone) out
Daniel Green (gluteus) out
JJ Hickson (flu) day to day
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Darnell Jackson
LeBron James
Coby Karl
Jamario Moon
Shaquille O'Neal
Anthony Parker
Leon Powe (knee) out
Russell Robinson
Anderson Varejao (flu) day to day
Darryl Watkins
Delonte West (personal) questionable
Jawad Williams
Mo Williams
Team Connections
Leon Powe and Delonte West are former Celtics
West was drafted by the Celtics with the 24th overall pick in the 2004 Draft
Powe played for the Celtics from 2006-09
Paul Pierce and Darnell Jackson are former KansasJayhawks
Daniel Green, Jawad Williams and Rasheed Wallace are former North Carolina Tar Heels
Shaquille O’Neal and Glen Davis both attended Louisiana State. Here is a little something from the Boston Globe about the relationship between Big Baby and Shaq and about when Big Baby got to meet his idol.
Quote:
Shaq jokingly calls Davis, who followed in his footsteps at LSU, "my son."
"I was 14 or 15, and I went to his house and I was hanging with Shaq," Davis says. "He says to me, 'Let's go outside and wrestle.' We started wrestling. I pinned him down. He couldn't budge me."
The 7-1, 325-pound O'Neal confirms the story.
"He picked me up and body-slammed me," says Shaq. "That's when I knew he was for real."
Game Notes.
Doc has said that he will probably play Perk and Rondo but I imagine Pierce, KG, and Ray will sit and possibly even Sheed.
Both teams are playing in back to back games. The Celtics are coming off a 108-103 loss to the Knicks while the Cavs are coming off a 96-66 blowout win over the Mavs. In their next to the last games, the Cavs were building intensity especially on the defensive end with a blow out, the Celtics appeared lackluster, especially on the defensive end. This game could prove to be just as lopsided as Doc is planning to rest his veterans while Mike Brown plans on playing his regular rotation.
What to watch in this incredibly meaningless game.
We will see a lot of the bench in this game and so we need to watch who stands out and who seems to lag behind.
Look for chemistry and execution among the bench players and how their games are meshing. We need to see more defensive effort from the bench.
Cavaliers foolishness. When last we played this team the Cavs players were taunting and putting on a show and dancing on the sidelines. Will they continue to do more of the same or have more of a professional decorum on the bench?
Important fact
It is now just 6 days until the start of the regular season.
It is a great idea to start a game thread with a comment like this. I applaud it and encourage you more to create game threads like this through the season. We need confidence in this team. I also agree we will win by at least 20.
We didn't really get blown out TOO badly last time. In the end we lost by like 10. Garbage stats or no, stats are stats on paper. I expect a victory, but I'm crazy.
Hopefully we shoot over 37 percent
Leaguepass showing the game, but it's the Celtics broadcast/commentators. My ears are going to fall off.
I would honestly rather listen to it muted than sit through 2 hours of Tommy Heinsohn..
Celtics' Defense >>>>>> Knicks' Offense.
Rondo can shoot those jumpers all day, the Knicks are still not gonna respect that.
Rondo is the perfect example of when you look at his stats you see an allstar but when you watch him play you want to take a dump.
WOW at that flop by House.
Gallo was foaming at the mouth when he saw Scalabrine guarding him.
It's such a joke how we let Scal have those open looks
Daniels killing our guards, wheres the help?
House and Scab are annoying pieces of sh*t and I don't know why they're being left open to do the only things they're good for.
Celt Fans used to call Nate the Gimmick too and How Gerald Green was so much better.
Wow, we're actually looking good!
Much respect for house for making sure jeffries was all right
I swear Doc the CLOWN rivers and his team should consider Broadway.
I hope the Celtics enjoy the technicals Sheed's big mouth will be getting them all season long. The guy makes Nate look like Tim Duncan in terms of maturity.
Why the hell are we playing the Nets three times in the same pre-season.. Team morale??
Yep. Nothing like a Nets game to give you a sense of accomplishment.
Rondo just has a way of doing us dirty
BREAKING NEWS---Tommy Heinsohn thinks Rondo got fouled...more to follow.
Wow the calls that Pierce gets are ridiculous..
So now it's ok for Pierce to run guys over.
Pierce better watch his back, Gallo will put out a hit on him.
This is like, almost a real game. Wow.
Why does a redheaded white guy get up from the Boston bench every 3mins when they sub to highfive the guy?
Boston just trying to see gallinari's toughness and gallinari is making them look stupid.
Knicks strategy, pass it to the man guarded by Scalabrine
Knicks are looking good!!!!!
I guess I'm the only one that noticed Boston's starters sitting on the bench.
Seriously. Boston has no shooters and must have score 50 points off layups
Lol at scalabrine.I literally saw this guy and busted out laughing.its like this guy walk out of the Celtics 1980's lockeroom.
I hate Eddie house so much.I wish we had a prime reed on the floor.he'd a punted that gremlin outta MSG.
Personally I think Doc saw that NY was playing hard, much harder than he may have expected. So in order to protect his starters EGOS and take some shine off The Knicks beating them, he sits his starters
I think it was a little of the opposite. I think he was sending a message to them and didn't appreciate them being what you call a contending team playing like they were, it was unacceptable to him. I think Doc thinks he's Phil Jackson at times and he isn't.
Boston couldn't buy a shot this game. If it wasn't for their constant layups it would have been a BLOWOUT.
What u talkin about man? House and Wallace were torching us from outside..even scalabrine hit a couple
That is their BENCH. Rondo, Garnett, Pierce, and Perkins couldn't buy a shot.
I don't think we are in a position to crush a team like the Celtics no matter what night they are having. Pierce,Garnett and Allen could show up in wheelchairs and we'd still have a hard time beating them.
Boston is looking OLD. They cant keep up with us. Did you see how gased they looked?
After watching some of these Eastern teams during the pre-season the East isn't looking all that. The East is filled with pretenders.
How did we beat the Celtics? Well then again we beat them in one preseason game last year and went 1-3 against them in the regular season.
at Boston Celtics (5-1) at New York Knicks (3-2)
Tuesday, October 18, 2009
7:30 PM ET
TV: MSG, CSN HD, LP 752, 753
Madison Square Garden
This should be the final tuneup before the regular season starts. The Celtics play Cleveland tomorrow, but Doc has said that he plans to sit the starters out of that one. Expect to see the starters playing around 30 minutes and the bench rotation pretty close to what Doc will be using in the regular season.
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard vs
Rajon Rondo vs Nate Robinson
Shooting Guard vs
Ray Allen vs Chris Duhon
Small Forward vs
Paul Pierce vs Wilson Chandler
Power Forward vs
Kevin Garnett vs Jared Jeffries
Center vs
Kendrick Perkins vs David Lee
Reserves
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Big Baby Davis
Eddie House
Brian Scalabrine
Lester Hudson
Shelden Williams
JR Giddens
Michael Sweetney
Injuries
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Bill Walker (knee) out
Reserves
Darko Milicic
Toney Douglas
Larry Hughes
Danilo Gallinari
Jordan Hill
Joe Crawford
Marcus Landry
Chris Hunter
Al Harrington
Injuries
Eddy Curry (calf) questionable
Key Matchups vs
Over the last couple of games, the Knicks have moved Nate Robinson from the bench into the starting lineup. He is quick and tough and Rondo will have his hands full with him. A GM survey named Rondo one of the top defensive guards in the league. To which Doc said not really. It seems as though Doc and Danny have both decided that the way to motivate Rondo is to put him down. Hopefully he will take the bait and step up his defense to yet another level.
vs
The spotlight is still on KG and so far, it is shining brightly. His offense appears to be back on track as he scored 21 points in 28 minutes in his last outing. He has no sign of a limp or of lingering effects of the injury. He should be able to have another very good game against Jeffries
Team Connections
Doc Rivers played for the Knicks from 1992-95
Tom Thibodeau was an assistant coach with New York from 1996-2002
Eddie House played for Mike D’Antoni in Phoenix during the 2005-06 season
Rasheed Wallace and Darko Milicic were teammates in Detroit from 2003-06
Al Harrington and Marquis Daniels were teammates in Indiana during the 2006-07 season.
Things to Watch
Back up point guard spot - Leading up to the last game, Doc had said that he was going to start Daniels at the point but went with Rondo instead. Hudson has been playing very well and Marquis has done a good job playing the point also. Doc needs to make the decision to keep Hudson on the team and should be taking an extra look at him in these last couple games.
Defense - The Celtics have said that they want to be the best defensive team ever. Look for the Celtics to continue to ramp up their defense from game to game.
KG - In each game, KG has gotten closer and closer to 100%. His shot is back, his mobility is there on defense, his alley oop is back, and his intensity is back. Look for KG to look even better every game out.
Chemistry - In the last game against the Raptors, we saw some great passes where teammates telegraphed passes from one to another. We are seeing alley oops not just with KG but with Rasheed as well. The chemistry is building on this team and the new players and returning players are learning each others' games and where they like the ball. It is going to be fun watching this team as the chemistry gets even better.
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