Garnett suspended for Game 2

[looseball]

It's a sad situation.  The league is determined to be viewed as politically correct in the eyes of the public.  But, actually, the public sees this as ludicrous, if not contemptuous.
There was a scuffle on the sidelines just prior to the end of a very competitive , hard-fought game.  No one was hurt and no punches were thrown.   A few technicals could have been called, and the game resumed.  End of story.

Instead, the refs review the tapes for about ten minutes, indicating there was nothing flagrant happening here.  They had to keep going back over it to see if there was something they could pin on somebody.  So they end up ejecting Garnett, for something they spotted on stop-action only.  That's like getting a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, when you just slowed down to a roll, as there was no other cars in the vicinity.  You figure the cop had a quota to fill, and nothing more.  Under the guise of upholding the integrity of the game, the league compromises the game at a time when they should be trying to showcase its best teams and best players.

This is all so frustrating, because it could have been so easily defused by first rate refs.

[fairweatherfan]

Tough break, but I'm still optimistic for Game 2.  And hey, KG gets a little extra rest moving forward. 

We'll need 2 of the 3 Perk, Sheed, and Baby to step up this game, both in scoring and in rebounding.  Rebounding was maybe the 2nd most important factor in our comeback yesterday. 

I wonder if Doc will go small this game with Perk/Sheed at the 5, and Pierce, Ray, Tony, and Rondo on the perimeter.  If Beasley plays passively this could be a good lineup for us.

[CoachBo]

Typically absurd ruling from the little Napoleon and his minion, Jackson. Nice message to every punk in the league who might try to goad a star. Don't think it won't happen again.

The answer? Play defense all night Tuesday like the second half Saturday.

[jdpapa3]

Well, if the Celtics can't beat the Heat because they lose KG for 1 game of the series, then there's no chance they could get to the ECF with him.  So this shouldn't matter if they're the team we hope they are.

I'd normally agree with you in this situation, but losing KG in one of those home games vs. Atlanta in 08 could've been very costly. We won all of the games handily, but KG was a huge reason for that.

[celticinorlando]

Tough break, but I'm still optimistic for Game 2.  And hey, KG gets a little extra rest moving forward. 

We'll need 2 of the 3 Perk, Sheed, and Baby to step up this game, both in scoring and in rebounding.  Rebounding was maybe the 2nd most important factor in our comeback yesterday. 

I wonder if Doc will go small this game with Perk/Sheed at the 5, and Pierce, Ray, Tony, and Rondo on the perimeter.  If Beasley plays passively this could be a good lineup for us.

i believe that would be boston's best lineup. at some point...we need to see that.

[FallGuy]

It's a sad situation.  The league is determined to be viewed as politically correct in the eyes of the public.  But, actually, the public sees this as ludicrous, if not contemptuous.
There was a scuffle on the sidelines just prior to the end of a very competitive , hard-fought game.  No one was hurt and no punches were thrown.   A few technicals could have been called, and the game resumed.  End of story.

Instead, the refs review the tapes for about ten minutes, indicating there was nothing flagrant happening here.  They had to keep going back over it to see if there was something they could pin on somebody.  So they end up ejecting Garnett, for something they spotted on stop-action only.  That's like getting a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, when you just slowed down to a roll, as there was no other cars in the vicinity.  You figure the cop had a quota to fill, and nothing more.  Under the guise of upholding the integrity of the game, the league compromises the game at a time when they should be trying to showcase its best teams and best players.

This is all so frustrating, because it could have been so easily defused by first rate refs.

I wish they hadn't suspended him too. But throw an elbow and you get suspended. We saw it last year, we're seeing it this year. In those scenarios, our guys have to exert emotional control - at least to the extent they don't throw elbows and punches.

Oh, for the days of clotheslines, right...?

[Chris]

to me...ray is the key. they won without him doing anything yesterday. all we need is 15-20 from him.  plus we need rondo to attack all game...

AT least this team has been here last season. and you add to bigs in with sheldon and sheed. there will be no panic at all. boston is well equiped to handle this. and i think sheed is going to be big tues

I agree.  The C's backcourt needs to pick up the slack.  Rondo and Ray both had a lot of room to improve in game 1.  If they can pick up their game, and the C's can maintain strong defense against Wade, they should be able to pull out game 2.  Of course Perk waking up couldn't hurt either.

[shuttles20]

ray and rondo are key to this series-i think they'll be huge tuesday. if ray gets going early, i dont think it will be even close by the end of the game.

[fairweatherfan]

I wonder if Doc will go small this game with Perk/Sheed at the 5, and Pierce, Ray, Tony, and Rondo on the perimeter.  If Beasley plays passively this could be a good lineup for us.

i believe that would be boston's best lineup. at some point...we need to see that.

Only concern would be if Wade starts getting by Tony there's not a lot of help behind him.  TA was awesome on Wade last night but I don't expect him to be able to keep it up all series. 

I'd love to see us try this though.

[celticinorlando]

rondo was able to get to the rim at will...Perk missed a ton of bunnies..but he had good shots...ray..to me didnt look for his shot that much. we need to get him going early...

but the key is tony and the defense. if boston plays defense like they did from mid 3rd on..they will be fine. other than wade....i fear NOBODY inside from the heat.

interested to see if the Cs go small...i think rondo, tony, ray, PP and Perk/Sheed could do some damage on offense..as for wade getting by tony...you just gotta continue to collapse on him with or without KG and make him pass.

[twinbree]

I don't have a problem with the KG suspension but I think a lot more fines and a couple more suspensions should have been handed out. The Heat are getting off easy here.

We just need to come out in step on their throat mode on Tuesday and we need Ray and Perk have good games. Hopefully Rondo will be fully over the flu by then.

[Roy Hobbs]

Typically absurd ruling from the little Napoleon and his minion, Jackson. Nice message to every punk in the league who might try to goad a star. Don't think it won't happen again.

The answer? Play defense all night Tuesday like the second half Saturday.

Yeah, that's sort of my reaction, as well.  I understand the suspension, *if* the league is going to be heavy-handed with Richardson, O'Neal, and Haslem, as well.  However, for KG to be the only player disciplined (at least in terms of a suspension) just seems wrong to me.

Still, there's no reason the Celts can't win Game 2, even sans KG.

[get_banners]

what a crock. KG shouldn't have been suspended, period. kobe didn't get suspended last year for an incidental elbow to artest's neck that was worse than this one. ridiculous. how you don't suspend haslem, who threw an elbow at baby, if you suspend KG is ridiculous. i'd throw some really hard legal picks and try to knock Q's teeth out if i was boston.

[ducksawce]

Although this situation is obviously not ideal, I feel like the Celtics can finally get the opportunity to get their big man rotation fleshed out more clearly.

We've seen glimpses of Sheed, Perk, Baby, and Shelden step up.  Lately it's been more Baby.

What I personally want to see is Sheed start, and Baby remain on the bench.  I want Baby to be used the way TA was used yesterday....as a 6th man sparkplug doing the essential dirty-work.  In order for the bench to function at all the right way, I think it's absolutely necessary that Baby holds down the fort with Shelden, rather than Sheed.  That is important for THIS game.

Still even more important in the long-term is getting the opportunity to observe Sheed and see if he really CAN flip the switch.  I thought he did okay yesterday...he really didn't do anything good on offense except his 3 point play...but he did play very, very solid defense in the second half.

I want to see him initiate things on offense.  I don't necessarily think he didn't try on offense yesterday, I just think he wasn't aggressive.  Notice that when he DID aggressively move towards the hoop on his own volition (once) during the game, he finished on  a fantastic and difficult 3 point play.

I've got a nagging (and good) feeling that Sheed merely needs consistent touches in order to flourish offensively.  The one major thing that was stopping this from happening was the dysfunction of the bench, and its incapacity in knowing who the 1st, 2nd and 3rd options are on offense.  I think this very knowledge (specific to strategy against Miami, but ALSO relevant to future series) is what Sheed needs in order to know how and when to step up.  The good news is that yesterday's game did much to solidify this knowledge.

Tuesday is the chance to see whether Sheed can step it up as a legitimate offensive threat.  We need him for those games in which Perk has happy feet and stone (Shelden-like) hands.  We need him to draw fouls on Miami/Cleveland bigs.  Finally, we need him to serve as a steady future source of baskets for the partial bench lineups...even more so in order to keep TA and Baby focused on defense, rebounds, and ball-movement.

I actually can't wait to see how it pans out on Tuesday.  I'm confident that both Sheed and Baby will step up to the opportunity of playing large minutes and making an impact.  Call me optimistic, but I expect a win on Tuesday.

[Steve Weinman]

This suspension is like some kid getting in trouble at school for standing up for himself against the school bully that gets away with everything he does because the kid can't take it anymore. 

Really, we're playing the victim-of-the-bully-retaliates card with KG?

Perhaps Jose Calderon and other pint-sized guards around the league would have an interesting opinion on that.

High irony.

-sw