Celtics @ Magic - Christmas - December 25th

[bc legends]

Who's better: Rondo or Nelson?

I guess we can finally put an end to THAT debate.

Never really was a debate.

[The Laker Kid]

Who's better: Rondo or Nelson?

Rondo

[return2glory]

A great, great road win, especially without Pierce. How good was Tony Allen with 16 points. Ray was clutch in the 2nd half, and Rondo was great. Our defense was amazing.

I loved the young legs on Rasheed today on those two dunks. Looks like he is getting in shape. I loved seeing Glen Davis back. And I love what TA has meant to our team. His energy is rubbing off on his teammates and we have become a better rebounding team his Tony Allen returned.

[GuyClinch]

Nice win - O was lacking but our D made up for it. Though in fairness I do think the magic were in the "pissed to play on Christmas" mode..

[celticfan42487]

You'd be pissed to if on Christmass you were getting outplayed by the team that "unfairly gets more respect then us"

[Hilltop]

On the bright side, the Magic were able to built several warm homes for homeless children from all the bricks they shot yesterday. The NBA, where caring happens.

[BRUNiNHO91]

On the bright side, the Magic were able to built several warm homes for homeless children from all the bricks they shot yesterday. The NBA, where caring happens.

[exculpatory]

On the bright side, the Magic were able to build several warm homes for homeless children from all the bricks they shot yesterday. The NBA, where caring happens.

Hill:

LOLOLOLOLOL.

You have a great sense of humor, and you are the most sportsman-like fan of another team that I have seen on our board.

MERRY XMAS AND HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!!!

Ex

P.S. I call him Wince sarcastically, but he is an amazing athlete, and you guys are lucky to have him.

[mattyBoi]

May 17, 2009
Nov 20, 2009

To important dates to remember

[celticfan42487]

Other important dates.

The day the Magic won the championship..... oh well you can always celebrate ours later this year.

[klemen4]

May 17, 2009
Nov 20, 2009

To important dates to remember

You can put it on a banner and hang it in you arena. That is as close as you will get to a real championship banner...

[Hilltop]

On the bright side, the Magic were able to build several warm homes for homeless children from all the bricks they shot yesterday. The NBA, where caring happens.

Hill:

LOLOLOLOLOL.

You have a great sense of humor, and you are the most sportsman-like fan of another team that I have seen on our board.

MERRY XMAS AND HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!!!

Ex

P.S. I call him Wince sarcastically, but he is an amazing athlete, and you guys are lucky to have him.

You have a good Christmas too my man, enjoy the rest of the holidays.

[Kefa461]

The key was confronting Dwight Howard with single coverage. Howard shot 1 for 7 and had seven turnovers. Kendrick Perkins did get into foul trouble, playing 20:41. But Rasheed Wallace delivered an efficient performance in relief and Kevin Garnett added an inside presence, though possibly slowed by a thigh bruise that kept him out of last Tuesday’s game against Indiana.

“It wasn’t going to change the way I play,’’ said Perkins, who committed two fouls in the opening 70 seconds. “Even when I came back in, I was going to play him physical, and that was it. I think we’re deep enough I don’t have to worry about fouls or trying to play soft.

“You got to play him physical. Watch other teams around the league, they pretty much let him set up shop, throw elbows, let him get whatever he wants to get. You just got to go in and be prepared to go to war. You’ve got to fight him first, hit him first, and that’s about it.

“If you are going to throw blows, you got to be able to receive them. He likes to get physical but he don’t like for nobody to get physical with him. He wants to be the one doing all the pushing and things like that. I mean, if you are a physical person, you like the contact, you should invite it.’’


Percules speaks.........


http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... ltics+news

[Athanacropolis]

^^^ Perkins is too awesome for words. And he's spot-on about Howard. I think most players are intimidated by Howard's size and athleticism and aggression. I still feel that Howard is one or two reliable offensive moves away from being a truly great player. Until he becomes more versatile, players like Perkins will be able to get him out of his comfort zone. I'm not discounting Howard's rebounding, but since he's such a focal point of Orlando's offense, he NEEDS to be able to score against tough defenders.

[exculpatory]

^^^ Perkins is too awesome for words. And he's spot-on about Howard. I think most players are intimidated by Howard's size and athleticism and aggression. I still feel that Howard is one or two reliable offensive moves away from being a truly great player. Until he becomes more versatile, players like Perkins will be able to get him out of his comfort zone. I'm not discounting Howard's rebounding, but since he's such a focal point of Orlando's offense, he NEEDS to be able to score against tough defenders.

+1!

Dwight MUST learn some reliable post moves if he is ever going to be one of the truly GREAT big men in bball history, ala Russ, Wilt, Hakeem, Kareem etc.

[GWVan]

I was there, and this was a great game, completely blew away my expectations

Perk with two fouls before the first point was scored, I was wishing I had stayed home so I could turn it off, but I got to see a great defensive performance

missed the end of the game thought, i was watching KG on the bench, wondering if I had just witnessed the end of his season

did not know Baby was coming back, that was a pleasant surprise, however, his return gives us the biggest collection of man-boobs in the league, Sheed and Baby are making Scal look fit - they need some work.

[Pogue Mahone]

I don't think The Paper Tiger has the prerequisite footwork to be a reliable post option. Think about all the bail-out calls he gets down low. Think about all the over-the-backs he gets away with. Sure, reward aggressive play, when warranted, but jimminy christmas.

Virtually every pick set by Howard could be called as a moving screen. He has a penchant for planting a bow in the back of the man he is picking and pushing off on his dive to the tin.

Howard is the perhaps the least skilled "star" in the league with the full support of The Society for Inventive Refereeing (under the direction of the sneaky snake, Stern.) Yes he is physically blessed. Yes he is athletically blessed. No, he is not skilled. No, he doesn't deserve half the calls he gets and half of those should be going the other way.

Perkins, on the other hand, is really just starting to get comfortable. I have read many people opine this and that over the years about Perkins but if you read back, here and on other sites, exactly what I have said regarding his development has transpired. In fact, if you visit the archive of PIAB, you will probably see different time-lines of expected "breakout" streaks that I accurately predicted (in some cases, 18 months in advance.) What did I base these on? His advanced footwork, particularly on defense. His shooting stroke during warm-ups (he will incorporate that eventually and he will safely be a 16-17 PPG scorer, just watch. I am looking at the start of next season before he really starts to feel comfortable with that aspect of his game. It will be another 18 months before he is consistently putting up those scoring numbers.)

Anyways, back to Perkins. He is pretty maxed-out physically but the beauty of his game is in the subtleties. He brings the lane-clogging of a Jason Collins. He brings the shot-blocking of a mid-career Tree Rollins. He brings a Nene-like ability to switch. He brings the rebounding of a Tree Rollins. In fact, before LAST year, I had Tree Rollins as his low-side comp.

Think about that, quite an exciting time to be a Celtic fan. We are competing for championships (the most glaring need being a low-possession, spot-up shooting SG with length, athleticism and defensive activity, imo) right now. We have three players, assuming health (a big if) that project as a better version of Fat Lever, Bonzi Wells (unlikely to reach) and a rich man's Tree Rollins (who could be a poor man's Alonzo Mourning assuming he masters the 12-15 footer and is given enough opportunity.)

Right now, the things prohibiting Rondo, Perkins and, to a lesser extent, Walker from developing are minutes (Walker and, to a lesser extent, Perkins) and opportunity (Rondo is starting to get that this year, Perkins usage is there but not consistently and Walker can't break the line-up.)

In Perkins' case, he has actually improved his efficiencies despite a drastic increase in usage rate. This was a point I made on another site that was laughed at and brushed away. While it is normally true that players lose efficiency as they gain usage (call it comfort zone, if you will), there are some rare players who actually lose efficiency by playing at too low of a usage. People tend to think of it only in one direction and that is that some players are not star scorers and fail under the burden of increased defensive attention. Then again, very low usage players, as Perkins has been for much of his career, are unable to develop a rhythm and consistency to their offensive game because of too few touches.

Pete and I had at it about two years ago regarding Perkins. Nothing major but if I recall his argument, it was that Perkins is just big and takes up space. My counter was that endomorphs and meso-endos are the ideal to match with meso-ectos like Kevin Garnett. I went on to say that while much of the defensive improvement could be attributed to Garnett in his first year with the Celtics, I felt that too many people were discounting the presence of Kendrick Perkins and his impact on Kevin Garnett. If I recall, I likened it to the symbiotic relationship of a Loscutoff/Russell.

Right now, there is a bit of a possession crunch that has been going on for about two years. It happens to manifest itself at different times but most notably when one of the higher usage players takes rhythm shots and stalls the offense to get his comfort shots. It kills ball movement, shuts down player movement because he is the only one moving as everyone else attempts to create space for him by setting picks, causes decreased efficiency from the real star wing because his comfort areas (in particular the left side) are being encroached upon and, worst of all, takes the ball out of the hands of more talented playmakers. This is usually followed by extended bouts of one-on-one by other members of the team and too many outside shots.

Give Perkins and Rondo the opportunity and this team will be unbeatable. Continue taking mid-range, low offensive rebound probability shots, without the added value of trips to the line, and this team's offense will continue to stall at key points.