The Celtics have work to do.
Last night's game was a battle of wills, and the Celtics lost.
The game resembled neither of the regular-season games against the purple last year. The Celtics controlled both of those games from start to finish, getting stops when they needed them and getting baskets without too much effort.
Last night the Lakers' bench outscored the Celtics' reserves 22-13, which just so happened to equal the overall margin of victory.
Coincidence?
There will be no shortage of observers who point out that Ray Allen was 5-14 overall, and 3-11 from range. Contrast this with his Finals performance where he set an NBA record for threes and challenged Paul Pierce for series MVP.
Do the Celtics win Banner 17 without Ray Allen playing like an MVP?
The Celtics aren't slated to see the Fakers again until February. Between now and then the schedule shows tough games against Portland away, Charlotte away, Miami away, Cleveland away, and Detroit away, plus Houston, Phoenix, and Dallas all at home.
Act I of the 2008-09 NBA season is now officially over. As KG and Paul Pierce said, the 19-game winning streak didn't mean much. Nor did the 27-2 start. What does matter is where we go from here, both on the court and off.
I'm not a big Mutumbo fan. I'd rather see us spend some effort trying to land a veteran wing who can spell Ray, score consistently, and play some D. Probably too much to ask from either Giddens or Walker.
But I would call that job one.
10 comments:
The Lakers wanted this game a lot. I'd say they were more intense and focused as they had no problem saying how much they wanted this one while the C's kept downplaying this game and came up on the losing end.
I think we really need Mutombo or another 7 footer who can get in there and play like P.J. Brown did last year. If we have to make a 3 for 1 trade we need to do it.
The Celtics lost this game more than the Fakers won it. Rondo was not aggressive in this game and was walking the ball up the court and not taking it at Fisher as he should have. Perk's shoulder was bruised (I think they did that on purpose) and so wasn't as aggressive on defense at the end of the game as they should have been.
Ray and Rondo were arguing on the court instead of getting back on defense. Our bench was ineffective.
We do have work to do. We need more size off the bench to matchup with the Lakers. We also need some consistent scoring off the bench and we need more defense from the bench.
I hate the Lakers so much losing to them put a damper on my holiday.
At age 42 and one-half, I'm not sure what Mutumbo adds to the roster. 5.1 rebounds in 16 mpg last season. Not bad. But not outstanding.
I'd rather look for someone to gift us a better big.
The second unit is dysfunctional and rudderless.
Good point on the shoulder.
Ok. We need a seven foot backup.
Maybe that is job one.
I still don't love mutumbo.
I agree with FLCeltsFan Celtics lost this game. Foul trouble made Rondo less aggressive and I'd take a loss over Perk re-injuring his shoulder to stay aggressive. It was strange to see Ray and Rondo argue they're usually the quietest Celtics out there. And Ray was visibly upset other times which seemed very out of character.
Doc is always saying defense leads to the offense but I think the bench has bought into that. The downfall of our bench I always see is that they too concerned with their offense when they should focus on playing lockdown defense. Running more might also help their offense.
The bench definitely needs something.
How do you feel about a guy like Stephen Jackson?
He's had some behavior problems, right?
Putting those aside, he might do.
Can he get by on 5-10 shots per game?
How's his D?
He played for the spurs so I think he could fit but the questions are would he be content on the bench and how much would he cost
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