Red would've been proud of the Celtics tonight. Maybe not the generic canned music being pumped into the Garden during breaks in the action, maybe not the dancers - and who knows if he had an opinion on Gino - but the game of basketball was played tonight at a level unseen in the Garden since at least the early 90's. Even Jim O'Brien smoochers have to admit that the Obie Celtics were clinically dependent on the 3-point bomb to the point that it made games predictable and aggravating. Finally, Boston fans can watch BASKETBALL. This is unselfishness, ball movement, sharp shooting, and team defense. This is how Red would've done it - the emphasis resting not on the circus-like atmosphere of the arena, but the well-polished product on the floor. Thank God.
Granted, the Nuggets were in the second game of a back-to-back, but the C's ran what some people are prognosticating as a championship-caliber squad right off the parquet and home to the mountai
ns. Only the great Allen Iverson really decided to show up tonight for Denver, and he only got 22 and 4 dimes. 'Melo? Garbage night. I suppose Camby and K-Mart were serviceable. It has been thrilling to me to see how many great looks at the hoop the Celtics are getting because of the threat of multiple offensive weapons being on the floor at once. It just shows how clueless many NBA squads are at the concept of team defense - some teams have one or two solid defenders and expect that to compensate for the other guys on the floor lollygagging around. The Celtics will burn any opposition that shows up with such a concept. There are indeed some teams in the East that actually play defense as a unit, and it'll be a great test to see if the Celtics can be equally successful in those upcoming games. But let's focus on tonight, and basking in the glow of November success...
The starting unit shot 70% tonight. 70! Even Rondo was making shots. And let me throw a holla out there to Eddie House, whose "bench gunner" pedigree may fit in perfectly with this team. He won't be expected to carry the offensive load while he's on the floor as long as either Pierce, Garnett, or Shuttlesworth is out there with him, so he's free to fire away. And he really doesn't have a conscience - the man can flat-out shoot, and the confidence he brings will result in a lot of double-figure nights, like tonight, off the pine.
Enjoy this, folks. Get out and see this team as often as you can. This is good, clean, efficient basketball with a little bit of an edge because the main guys on this team are ticked they had to waste 10+ years of their careers waiting for this. How can you not like it? Sure, Doc played KG 36 minutes tonight in a blowout - who cares? The feel-good start of the Celtics season has taken over.
Gotta plug the radio show, too - Tim was on last week talking hoops and drawing the ire of some listeners by bashing Glenn "Doc" Rivers from pillar to post. The website on that show is http://fireitup.bravehost.com - you'll find all the information you need right there.
Granted, the Nuggets were in the second game of a back-to-back, but the C's ran what some people are prognosticating as a championship-caliber squad right off the parquet and home to the mountai
ns. Only the great Allen Iverson really decided to show up tonight for Denver, and he only got 22 and 4 dimes. 'Melo? Garbage night. I suppose Camby and K-Mart were serviceable. It has been thrilling to me to see how many great looks at the hoop the Celtics are getting because of the threat of multiple offensive weapons being on the floor at once. It just shows how clueless many NBA squads are at the concept of team defense - some teams have one or two solid defenders and expect that to compensate for the other guys on the floor lollygagging around. The Celtics will burn any opposition that shows up with such a concept. There are indeed some teams in the East that actually play defense as a unit, and it'll be a great test to see if the Celtics can be equally successful in those upcoming games. But let's focus on tonight, and basking in the glow of November success...The starting unit shot 70% tonight. 70! Even Rondo was making shots. And let me throw a holla out there to Eddie House, whose "bench gunner" pedigree may fit in perfectly with this team. He won't be expected to carry the offensive load while he's on the floor as long as either Pierce, Garnett, or Shuttlesworth is out there with him, so he's free to fire away. And he really doesn't have a conscience - the man can flat-out shoot, and the confidence he brings will result in a lot of double-figure nights, like tonight, off the pine.
Enjoy this, folks. Get out and see this team as often as you can. This is good, clean, efficient basketball with a little bit of an edge because the main guys on this team are ticked they had to waste 10+ years of their careers waiting for this. How can you not like it? Sure, Doc played KG 36 minutes tonight in a blowout - who cares? The feel-good start of the Celtics season has taken over.
Gotta plug the radio show, too - Tim was on last week talking hoops and drawing the ire of some listeners by bashing Glenn "Doc" Rivers from pillar to post. The website on that show is http://fireitup.bravehost.com - you'll find all the information you need right there.
6 comments:
I was at the game and it was spectacular; just a privilege to watch. KG's brilliant one-handed alley-oop dunk took the breath away from the arena... Boston has never had a guy who's capable of making plays like that (I'm not sure anyone ever has besides Minnesota, frankly). They can beat anyone in the league if they play as well as they did last night.
i thought the best of the part of the game was that kg kept telling the guys to stay serious, to keep their game faces on-- when they were UP BY 40 POINTS! while i find this very amusing (can't he just relax?) in all seriousness, i think that is one of the things that makes kg such a pro.
1) Living in New York as a Celtics fan SUCKS. How many games do I get to watch on TV this year? 4? Terrible.
2) Cedric Maxwell is hilarious. I think he used the word "Whoopin" about 48392048 times last night. He's really the silver lining that comes with having to listen to games on NBA.com
3) You're going to probably want to kill me for this, but I really think Doc Rivers might be the perfect coach for this team. Not because he's a good coach, but because he can essentially run this team like a baseball manager. He doesn't really need to teach anyone anything, he just has to keep people happy and trying hard. Check it out: ubnyc.blogspot.com
Checked out your blog, Chuck - great stuff. I am in agreement with you on Doc - the other guys have their reasons to spew venom at the former ATL Hawks point guard turned head coach, but I tend to think you can do a lot worse than Rivers - and this may be the source of my next post...
You could at least give me some recognition. I'm the one proclaiming it was an episode of Red on Roundball versus the Nuggets. Damnit Fox, you don't need to be Jack or Tim Headband to know basketball. I'm a student of the game, and soon to be professor. And I'm not talking professor like that shmuck on And 1, which has single-handily stunted the growth of basketball for the next 10 years. Fuck And1, and fuck all you wiggers who go to the Celtics game and stand up and yell "Damn DOGG, did u see dat crossover, he broke his ankles" or who stand up and scream "OOOOHHHHH" when someone blocks a shot, like it was the best play of the game.
It was truly a "shell drill" clinic as Jackie Mac put it.
There will always be a sharp dichotomy between those who like that playground crap that you can see every day @ W4th street and real basketball played the way that Red wanted.
When is the NBA going to re-edit those spots they did last year w/ Red and just fill them w/ Green highlights?
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