11.23.2010

Bird's Rookie Year: December 29, 1979 (part 2)

December 29, 1979

Section: SPORTS

Dave Cowens had another sad shooting night - 2 for 9 - giving him a 29- for-110 tally in the last six games. But his baskets were both from the outside and they were back-to-backers in the third period, so maybe there is hope he's snapping out of it.

"These guys may never need me to score again," he quipped. "I may do nothing but play defense" - Doug Moe pointed out the Spurs were nine down late in the third period (40 seconds left), and that one defensive foulup (leading to two Cedric Maxwell free throws off a Tiny Archibald penetration) and a Maxwell fast-break layup after a George Gervin miss were big plays in the game, sending the Celtics into the final period leading by 13 "instead of by nine, or even seven."

And he was right ... Chris Ford's three-pointer gave him at least one bomb in 15 of his last 16 games ... Don Chaney sparkled again, playing that sticky defense and looking strong on offense ... San Antonio rookie Mike Evans had nine turnovers. The Spurs lost 36 points on miscues. Philly lost 49 on Wednesday. The Celtics must be doing something on defense.

Maxwell on Archibald's ankle injury: "I saw my playoff money going out the window when he went down." Said Archibald, "I tried to go one way, and when I stopped quick it turned over" ... The Celtics, of all people, blocked eight shots (Maxwell 3, Larry Bird 2, Cowens 2, M.L. Carr 1), and this might very well be a team record since they started keeping the stat. Nobody but he and his maker will ever know how many blocks Bill Russell had of course), you can call in the dogs as far as the Atlantic Division race is concerned.

10 comments:

Lex said...

Kevin Garnett Loves LA!
Or well, maybe not so much.

J.A Adande tweeted shortly after the Celtics Lakers game that Kevin Garnett had an interesting tidbit to pass on to a Los Angeles ball boy.

KG to ballboy hoping to get his ball signed: “You’ve got a better chance of catching Bin Laden”
JAdande Twitter

If that doesn't define what the Boston/L.A rivalry means to not just the players, but the fans, I'm not sure what does. Chivalry is not dead KG!

Lex said...

Pierce shooting 51% on the year.

Amazing!

Matty said...

Looking forward to Thursdays's games aswell, Im not sure who i want to win, i mean poodles vs super friends and fakers vs spurs (notice that i respect the spurs so i call them by their real name.) It's a tough one!

p.s i love the way the whole team it playing this year, i hope the all star reserves are all green! and glad to hear Doc is coaching!

Lex said...

Let's go with poodles and spurs!

Lex said...

Shaq seems like he's in a bit of a slump--or just the dog days of winter

Lex said...

If Mitch Kupchak is intent on dealing players, Ron Artest is his man.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, a source told him Artest is looking to relocate, go somewhere where he will be appreciated and get more playing time than 5 seconds in the fourth quarter and none in overtime Tuesday against Houston. The source, Stein said, is not Artest’s “tweet-happy” brother Daniel

Lex said...

If the Lakers really are considering all possibilities to improve their team right now, Andrew Bynum could be gone. Should be gone, in fact. Let’s go a step farther: Why is he still here?

He is this team’s most attractive asset, given his age and potential. His contract — two years and $31.5 million left (counting a team option for 2012-13) after this season — is something other teams could work with.

Think about it. Bynum is the Lakers’ only viable trade asset at this point, at least in making a significant deal. Lamar Odom has some value certainly, but who else? And we mean real value, not Luke Walton-type value.

The Lakers aren’t trading Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol and who would want Derek Fisher or Ron Artest right now, even though Artest is affordable?

The issue, of course, is Bynum’s shaky health, the reason we’d move him in an instant in the right deal. So package him up, Mitch, with whoever else is necessary to make the salaries work, and ship him out.

But now Bynum’s hurt again. And that’s a problem, too. Other teams see the same injury reports the rest of us do.

Lex said...

Money is still an issue for this team. Besides the Pau Gasol trade, the every Laker trade has been made to cut costs. Radman and Sasha were salary dumps. It’s very unlikely at this point that the team is willing to add to an already league high payroll.

Lex said...

That last point is the key one to me, though. Kupchak’scomments that a shake up may be in order centered entirely around the performance of the current group. His comments included several references to the team having enough talent and that it’s currently under-performing. That sounds like a man that’s telling his team to get in gear, not one that’s planning a big move. I could be wrong, obviously. But the public nature of this discussion andthe fact that the core players (i.e. players with trade value) are guys the team wants to keep has me thinking no deal is eminent. We’ll see though.

Lex said...

The other major news of the day is that Andrew Bynum has been ruled out of tonight’s game. An MRI exam showed a bone bruise on his left knee andif you noticed him limping or sporting some tape aroundthat leg during the Boston game, that’s why. (As an aside, the right knee is the one with the brace and the one that he had off-season surgery on.)