Sunday, January 27, 2008

No Longer Cute

The Celtics dropped an absolute heartbreaker in Orlando today, losing 96-93 on a buzzer-beating (and fairly preposterous) Hedo Turkoglu 3-pointer. The Celtics were without Kevin Garnett, out with that pesky abdominal injury from the other night, and the loss knocked them down to just .500 over their last ten games. I still maintain that there's nothing wrong with this team--again, a few breaks go there way and they win this game--but this losing is starting to suck. Paul Pierce played well, as did Rondo and Posey, but not having KG out there against Dwight Howard stung quite a bit (Howard went for 18 and 16), and Turkoglu--who's sort of inexplicably having the kind of year everyone thought he was capable of when he came into the league fifteen fucking years ago or whatever--stole the show with 27 to go with his madcap heroics.

Garnett's absence meant the unwelcome re-introduction of Brian Scalabrine to meaningful minutes, and he gathered a robust 1 rebound and 1 point in 22 minutes of action. On the bright side, he didn't pick up any fouls or turnovers, but considering he didn't pick up any steals or assists either he can go fuck himself. Leon Powe picked up 9 points and 9 boards in 27 minutes once it became clear for roughly the 200th time in his Celtics career that Scalabrine has no business being in a professional basketball game. I have nothing against him as a man, but as a basketball player I hate Brian Scalabrine: I hate the way nothing goes right when he's on the floor; I hate the way he camps out at the 3-point line even though he's 6-9 and shoots 30% from the arc; I hate the way he expends a needless amount of energy to play terribly and it gets called "hustle;" I hate the way fans in Boston love him for no apparent reason aside from pathetically casual racism. Sorry, maybe I'm still angry from this kick-to-the-genitals loss, but if I see this asshole starting next game I'm switching from beer to whiskey and keeping the pint glass. He's officially crossed the line from "ineffective" to "detrimental."

I don't know what else to say about this one. The team stays in Florida for Tuesday's game against the Heat, then plays Dallas in a biggie on Thursday. Time to yank this shit back on track.

9 comments:

carbs said...

I can see why they might want to leave the Oversized Infant on the bench against Lewis, but playing Scal for so long is overcompensating to an absurd degree.

Anonymous said...

here here!

Sean Sylver said...

I was driving from Cape Cod back to Boston during the first half yesterday and was "impressed" with Scalabrine's contribution through the description Grande and Max gave me on the radio.

Here's a guy who hardly plays, yet he comes in to start in Garnett's absence. I understand he didn't compile much of a statline but what was his role, say, in the 2nd quarter when everyone's job was to watch Paul Pierce go off??

Veal isn't my favorite player and he's just a deep bench guy who won't hurt the team because he won't be on the floor in crunch time. I'd be more worried about our shallow bench guys who are relied upon when the game is in doubt. Give him a break.

Tim Grimes said...

Fox, you're crazy, it was murder watching Scal yesterday, he is offensively anemic and defensively not very good either. Having him in there instead of Powe, Baby or Posey is absurdist. Scal should never play more than 10 minutes in a game unless he's hitting many threes. That happens about once a year. It was fucking atrocious yesterday.

Sean Sylver said...

I'm saying - Scal never logs big minutes so who cares? Why are we pissed about our 10th man?

Yesterday they needed someone to play Rashard Lewis, who is 6-10, quick, and plays a soft outside game.

Glen Davis? Leon Powe? Please.

Posey is just getting back from injury and there was no way to tell what he was gonna give. Fortunately he played well.

Unfortunately this discussion just devolves into another depth question. Make a move Danny - please.

Anonymous said...

I said this before and I'll say it again. Anytime Scalabrine gets minutes other than in garbage time, this team is in trouble. He adds absolutely nothing offesively or defensively. He forces the Celtics to go 4 on 5 offensively. Let's face it, he's getting paid $3 million a year to be in shape and play basketball and he looks as if he is 5 months pregnant. Can they buy out his contract just to get him out of town?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe my first post on this blog might be construed as pro-Veal but thought I'd pass this along from Spears' notebook in today's Globe:

Brian Scalabrine started in place of Garnett and had 1 point; he'd missed Friday night's game with a "24-hour flu." He said he went to a Boston hospital and received 3 liters of intravenous fluid because he was dehydrated. He also stayed in bed Saturday until it was time for him to catch the Celtics' charter flight to Orlando. "I couldn't hold anything down," Scalabrine said. "I couldn't hold down a sip of water." . . .

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your first post ... Just another reason why he shouldn't have been in there.

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