La-La La La

So we are about to commence a new year and things couldn't taste much sweeter than they do right now. 26 and 3 with last night's rousing win over the Lakers, and if anything the road trip showed that the Celtics are perhaps better than we thought. This game had all three of the Triumvirate playing like All-Stars, and when that happens you have to like your chances. I can laud the Big Three through the roof, but lets focus on Mr. Tony Allen for a second. Tony was Good TA last night, and what a glorious sight it was to behold. Without Rondo to hold down the fort Tony stepped up in the manner all of us were eagerly hoping he would this season. I harken back to Jack's early positive predictions concerning TA, and now we get to see what it means. TA in attacking mode is a beautiful arrow to have in your belt. Now the fact that he is playing "point guard" is kind of funny, and he still is a turnover waiting to happen, but if his strong attributes are used like last night you better look out, because the C's all of a sudden have a hell of a bench. TA's productiveness coupled by Ray Allen's savviness make the backup point guard spot no longer my main area of concern. For those of you who haven't noticed, Ray is the only other player on the roster who can remotely resemble a true point guard. His play last night exemplified that.

If I am to have my druthers (and somehow I always find them), I would say they would have to do with the center position. In the same way that Jack is right about TA, it is very possible that Fox is right about Perk. Many of us are quite annoyed with Perk's less than beastly moves around the box of late. I'm not saying he is a huge problem, but the fact that he is the only real center on the roster is a reason for concern. Pollard isn't doing enough presently to be considered a legitimate part of the equation. So bring in a big before you bring in a point. Let's get some beef up front. Happy New Year's, hopefully more of the same for the start of '08.

C'mon that was a foul!!

LIVE from Hollywood, CA - a matchup of two of the league's best actors/off-balance shooters:











What - ref you didn't see that?!












C'mon man - that's a reach-in!!

Jazzed Up

Last night was one of the great regular season New England sports nights of all time. While the Pats deservedly get all the headlines, what the C's did out in Utah should serve notice to all those who think this team is not very, very good. The Celtics, in short, should not have won last night. The Jazz are superb at home, and they shot the lights out for much of the evening. But playing their third game in four nights the C's clamped down again when it mattered most, and managed to pull out a victory. I don't know if it was the most impressive win of the season, but if not it was something close. Tommy proved clairvoyant (he's getting good at this) when he said that Pierce would pull the the team through in the second half after being invisible in the first. Sure enough, he did. PP's second half stat line: 24 points and 6 boards. Ah, the beauty of having three stars.

This Jazz victory might not be against an "elite" team, but given the setting and the circumstances I think you would be very foolish to discredit anything the C's did last night. That was a gutsy win, and there have been quite a few of those this season. 25 and 3. Unbelievable. It will be icing on the cake if they can beat L.A. tonight, but even if they lose by 20 this has to be considered an excellent road trip. Expect to hear about the 72 win Bulls for a while longer.

Hollinger Talks Draft

Some of you may remember how amazing I thought Hollinger's draft ratings were last June. So I was pumped when he released his current ratings for sophomores, juniors and seniors today. Of course the list does not include the fab freshman or the internationals, but we can still gauge a lot from what he presented. The top ten in the ratings, with their score:

Chase Budinger (688)
Ty Lawson (627)
Roy Hibbert (615)
Ryan Anderson (608)
Darrell Arthur (588)
Lawrence Hill (578)
Chris Lofton (567)
Patrick Beverley (547)
Darren Collison (545)
K.C. Rivers (541)

Whew. First of all, I've never heard of Anderson, Hill, Beverly or Rivers (although I assume he's not Glenn's son). But they all got excellent scores, so they definitely have merit in my book, and all should be drafted, although that is unlikely to happen. Let me talk about the guys I do know. Budinger, Lawson and Hibbert (as well as Anderson) all have scores above 600, which is damn good. Since 2002 the biggest busts with scores over 600 have been Mike Sweetney (good but ate himself out of the league), Delonte (still good, but hurt frequently), Tar Heelers May and McCants (injuries, jury still out), and Ty Thomas (definitely too early to call a bust). The other players with scores over 600 since 2002 are all very solid: Booozer, Gooden, Wilcox, Carmelo, Bosh, Wade, Deng, Devin Harris, Chris Paul and Marvin Williams.

So Budinger is no Adam Morrison just cause he's white. With a score like 688 he's almost guaranteed to be at least a valuable starter for the next ten years if healthy. That's what makes Hollinger's ratings so awesome - I felt not nearly so confident in Budinger's ability before reading this, and now my worries are put to rest. Lawson is not actually six feet tall, and that makes his very high rating dubious, as Hollinger implies. I like Lawson but prefer Collison, who seems to just get it, and will probably lead UCLA to the Final Four come spring. Mr. Roy Hibbert is the most intriguing "over 600" member. People are all over the place on Hibbert, and I have been one of them - I watch the first half of some of his games convinced he's a top 3 pick, and by the final buzzer I'm not even certain he should be in the top 20. But as long as his score stays above 600 I would have a hard time not picking him in the top 5. Hibbert is huge, a totally legit center, and that is the most attractive commodity in the league. If he falls out of the lottery something is wrong.

Darrell Arthur and Chris Lofton will both probably be good; I was happy to see the Height's own Tyrese Rice with a healthy score of 516, I always knew that kid could ball. I was surprised Brandon Rush scored so poorly, Hansbrough's score did not surprise me, etc...there is so much we can work with from these ratings; I just dipped my toe in the pond, I'm sure later I will be poring over this list. Hopefully Hollinger releases freshman statistics sooner than later, his ratings are more valuable to me than any scout's take.

The Late Late Show

Two games in and this West Coast swing is already killing me. The Celtics? Not so much. Last night the Green ran their record to 24-3 with an unspectacular-yet-effective 104-96 victory over the Sonics, who really just aren't very good... we have no idea how they've even scraped together eight wins, to tell the truth. If you went to bed at halftime (and who can blame you, as this one didn't end until well after 1am) you missed a vintage Paul Pierce offensive explosion, as the captain dropped 26 in the second act and finished with a season-high 37 for the night. KG looked unstoppable at the beginning but cooled off a bit as the game went on (though he still finished with 23 and 14), and Ray Allen was never really able to get on track, finishing with only 10 points on 4-13 shooting. A big deal was made over Allen's return to Seattle but really, who gives a shit. I'm guessing TNT was looking for any angle to pump this one up since Durant is well behind his expected 35ppg. KD looked pretty good--and make no mistake, he will be great sooner rather than later--although Pierce completely abused him and he missed more shots than he hit, a persistent problem. Still, Seattle's got a good young nucleus and Carlesimo's a good coach: if they get a high lottery pick this June (and I see no reason they won't), watch out. Derek Rose would be amazing for this team.

Anyways, the C's have tonight off and then play Utah on Saturday 'round 9ish. A far more civilized tipoff time than last night's 10:30, though still a far cry from my preferred jump of 7pm sharp. No matter. Utah's a real team, which will be a nice change of pace, and Garnett vs. Boozer should be fun to watch.

Real Monarchy

Back from our Headband Holiday, and it seems as if not much has changed. The C's stifled the Kings last night, as is their forte, and the drubbings continue to pile up. The consistent thrashings that the Celtics are imposing are not normal for even the best teams in the NBA. They've now won nine games by twenty points or more - and we aren't even a third through the season. The recipe of valiant defense has been unconquerable. Tonight we have Seattle on slate, and we all know how the C's usually treat such opponents. Again last night we saw Pollard getting Baby's minutes; I 'm still surprised by this - I think Baby deserves to be out there unless the opposing center can cause real damage, and we know there are few of those in the league. Yet it seems a silly caveat given the recent results. Durantula tonight...

A Semiotic Victory Against Dwight And His Magic

103-91, Celtics. Take that Dwight Howard, you pussy. You must be a center to shoot free throws that badly. Seriously, though, I can relate with Tommy at the end there - I too was getting nervous when the lead was shrinking with a couple minutes to go, I mean we were up by like 11 and my heart was a-thumpin'. Maybe there is a need for some more close games, you lose all context of what close games are like after a while. Or maybe we don't need any close ones; twelve point victories are good too. Just keep on winning, boys.

From here on out "the road gets tougher", which could mean almost anything, and surely this West Coast swing will show something about the C's that we don't know presently. But I have a feeling that in the end the trip will deepen our current beliefs, as opposed to revealing crazy and potentially frightening issues, like Rondo choking under pressure or Perk being unable to rebound in locations west of Tulsa. So to Sactown we go...

As a final note on this eve of eves, let me praise Glenn Rivers. Glenn, I don't know what the hell came over you, but your completely rational usage of rotations and substitutions is blowing my mind, buddy. Like tonight I was a little disappointed when you put Pollard in instead of Big Baby, because Howard was out and Big Baby could give us some offense. And then I realized - if all I'm worried about is you playing Pollard a couple of minutes instead of Baby in the second quarter, how can I complain? You're so rational this season - did you stop taking uppers before the games or something? Where is Scal in key moments of the fourth quarter? Where is Posey at center? Why, oh why are you not playing Pruitt twenty minutes a night? Honestly, Glenn, I feel like you are not even you anymore. When people scoffed at you for having Tony Allen in against Detroit the other night I wanted to laugh - didn't they know that was nothing compared to what you would have done in the past? If people had actually watched the Celtics the last few years there's no way we'd be talking now. But here we are. 22-3. Good job, Glenn.