Amazing Win, but..........

[vinnie]

I rewatched the Baby buzzerbeater, and I couldn't help noticing again how well the Magic guard Ray.  Hedo was all over him.  Gotta give them credit for that.

As far as I can tell AJ "blew by" Rondo a grand total of twice, both times when Mikki was the help.  Alston, you might be curious, was 1-7 tonight.

Random side note: was that Bill Russell and Mike Gorman congratulating Baby after the shot?  If so, good to seem them both.

Yes, AJ blew by Rondo twice in about 30 seconds, which is totally unacceptable. Why is he ever blowing by Rondo? In addition, Alston was 1-7, because he thinks he is a 3-point shooter and he is not. He also blew by Rondo at least twice if not more, which led to easy baskets for other Magic players. I love Rondo, but he seriously needs to step it up on the defensive end.

  You noticed the pick Howard put on Rondo one of the times Johnson got into the lane, right? Did it happen on either play for Alston? And do you really think that having 3-4 plays where the other pg gets by you in 42 minutes is unacceptably bad? Which point guards never get beat off the dribble? And how many times did Rondo get into the lane? I'd guess more than 4.

I know you think Rondo can do no wrong. On the other hand, I think he is a young player who is incredibly inconsistent. I still don't think we know how good Rondo will be, but he does make a lot of mistakes, which I guess is to be expected. However, I will not back down on the fact that often he plays lazy defense.

[pengaloo]

I rewatched the Baby buzzerbeater, and I couldn't help noticing again how well the Magic guard Ray.  Hedo was all over him.  Gotta give them credit for that.

As far as I can tell AJ "blew by" Rondo a grand total of twice, both times when Mikki was the help.  Alston, you might be curious, was 1-7 tonight.

Random side note: was that Bill Russell and Mike Gorman congratulating Baby after the shot?  If so, good to seem them both.

Yes, AJ blew by Rondo twice in about 30 seconds, which is totally unacceptable. Why is he ever blowing by Rondo? In addition, Alston was 1-7, because he thinks he is a 3-point shooter and he is not. He also blew by Rondo at least twice if not more, which led to easy baskets for other Magic players. I love Rondo, but he seriously needs to step it up on the defensive end.

  You noticed the pick Howard put on Rondo one of the times Johnson got into the lane, right? Did it happen on either play for Alston? And do you really think that having 3-4 plays where the other pg gets by you in 42 minutes is unacceptably bad? Which point guards never get beat off the dribble? And how many times did Rondo get into the lane? I'd guess more than 4.

I know you think Rondo can do no wrong. On the other hand, I think he is a young player who is incredibly inconsistent. I still don't think we know how good Rondo will be, but he does make a lot of mistakes, which I guess is to be expected. However, I will not back down on the fact that often he plays lazy defense.

It's kind of ironic that he has all the physical tools to be a great defender, but he also has all the physical tools to play lazy defense and gamble. Everyone says he has great instincts. But if he really does play by instinct, it's probably inevitable that we'll see this gambling nonsense every so often.

[wiley]

I rewatched the Baby buzzerbeater, and I couldn't help noticing again how well the Magic guard Ray.  Hedo was all over him.  Gotta give them credit for that.

As far as I can tell AJ "blew by" Rondo a grand total of twice, both times when Mikki was the help.  Alston, you might be curious, was 1-7 tonight.

Random side note: was that Bill Russell and Mike Gorman congratulating Baby after the shot?  If so, good to seem them both.

Yes, AJ blew by Rondo twice in about 30 seconds, which is totally unacceptable. Why is he ever blowing by Rondo? In addition, Alston was 1-7, because he thinks he is a 3-point shooter and he is not. He also blew by Rondo at least twice if not more, which led to easy baskets for other Magic players. I love Rondo, but he seriously needs to step it up on the defensive end.

  You noticed the pick Howard put on Rondo one of the times Johnson got into the lane, right? Did it happen on either play for Alston? And do you really think that having 3-4 plays where the other pg gets by you in 42 minutes is unacceptably bad? Which point guards never get beat off the dribble? And how many times did Rondo get into the lane? I'd guess more than 4.

I know you think Rondo can do no wrong. On the other hand, I think he is a young player who is incredibly inconsistent. I still don't think we know how good Rondo will be, but he does make a lot of mistakes, which I guess is to be expected. However, I will not back down on the fact that often he plays lazy defense.

It's kind of ironic that he has all the physical tools to be a great defender, but he also has all the physical tools to play lazy defense and gamble. Everyone says he has great instincts. But if he really does play by instinct, it's probably inevitable that we'll see this gambling nonsense every so often.

Once in a while the gambling "nonsense" leads to a slew of steals and the total disruption of the other team's offense.  True, with no Garnett back there he should gamble much less, but I hope next year when Garnett come's back he goes back to gambling his ass off....God gave him long arms for a reason (multiple Celtic titles).

[pengaloo]

I rewatched the Baby buzzerbeater, and I couldn't help noticing again how well the Magic guard Ray.  Hedo was all over him.  Gotta give them credit for that.

As far as I can tell AJ "blew by" Rondo a grand total of twice, both times when Mikki was the help.  Alston, you might be curious, was 1-7 tonight.

Random side note: was that Bill Russell and Mike Gorman congratulating Baby after the shot?  If so, good to seem them both.

Yes, AJ blew by Rondo twice in about 30 seconds, which is totally unacceptable. Why is he ever blowing by Rondo? In addition, Alston was 1-7, because he thinks he is a 3-point shooter and he is not. He also blew by Rondo at least twice if not more, which led to easy baskets for other Magic players. I love Rondo, but he seriously needs to step it up on the defensive end.

  You noticed the pick Howard put on Rondo one of the times Johnson got into the lane, right? Did it happen on either play for Alston? And do you really think that having 3-4 plays where the other pg gets by you in 42 minutes is unacceptably bad? Which point guards never get beat off the dribble? And how many times did Rondo get into the lane? I'd guess more than 4.

I know you think Rondo can do no wrong. On the other hand, I think he is a young player who is incredibly inconsistent. I still don't think we know how good Rondo will be, but he does make a lot of mistakes, which I guess is to be expected. However, I will not back down on the fact that often he plays lazy defense.

It's kind of ironic that he has all the physical tools to be a great defender, but he also has all the physical tools to play lazy defense and gamble. Everyone says he has great instincts. But if he really does play by instinct, it's probably inevitable that we'll see this gambling nonsense every so often.

Once in a while the gambling "nonsense" leads to a slew of steals and the total disruption of the other team's offense.  True, with no Garnett back there he should gamble much less, but I hope next year when Garnett come's back he goes back to gambling his ass off....God gave him long arms for a reason (multiple Celtic titles).

I love it when we get points off his steals - there's nothing more exciting. But it's just as likely that Rajon knocks the ball out, they recover, we're out of position, and they hit the open 3.

[crownsy]

I think the positives outweigh the negatives with this team and will even if they lose the next two games. They have been decimated by injuries the last half of this season and are playing with Brian Scalabrine and Mikki Moore as the first two bigs off the bench in the playoffs and yet are tied in the conference semi's.

To me it's all good. Every game they win from this point forward is a bonus in my mind. Ray will come around and Orlando's defense will lull. Rondo looks to be back in the good Rondo mode(21 pts and 14 REBOUNDS, GOD), the defense played well for what seemed like almost a whole game, and we are getting different role playing guys stepping up every game(Perk, Baby, House). I feel good to call this team mine, win or lose, from this point on.

I am intrigued by your idea's and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

Kidding aside, TP for the above, i sahre the same feeling. At this point, this team is getting it done on pure grit and heart. If we go on to winn this series and continue to advance, awesome, I will enjoy the ride even more.

But considering what this team has gone through with injuries, it's amazing how much heart and determination they are showing. Alot of teams who lost thier best big man and then ANOTHER great big man bench player and have a rotation of scal, baby, and moore would have folded tent and looked at getting back to form next year.

Instead this team fights, claws, does anything to hang with teams that want to come in and crush them so they can say they beat the champs.

I'm so proud of this team it hurts.

[crownsy]

We'll get a trial at the Q this year, I promise. We may not get a fair trial in front of the tainted Witnesses but we will go to Cleveland this year.

Orlando does not impress me at all. Dwight Howard is OVERRATED.

23 pts 17 rbs 3 blk with foul trouble

Pretty good game, IMO.  The problem with Dwight is that he lacks the ability to take a game over, like Shaq did in his prime.  He was taking a lot of low percentage shots from the post.  He's still very young.  I'm sure he'll be high on the list of all time big men by the end of his career.

another problem is his coach.

Good call by barkley after the game, went something like this

"what i dont understand is how SVG can leave his team out to dry like that. Listen, the celtics are playing on grit and championship spirt, but they had perkins out of the game for 2 minutes, and they had no way to stop lewis. but, stan decides to go to hedo for 4 stright shots. Why? your entire comeback was through howard and lewis, and then you suddenly help the celtics out by running iso's for an ice cold player who they have a good defender for in pierce instead of pounding the ball down low and back otu to a hot shooter with perkins unable to cover d-12 for the time he's out with the shoulder? just a no brains coaching move."

It was shocking to me they didnt run a clear out/ 2 man game with lewis and d-12 for the next 4 trips down with perk out. they would have given us a ton of trouble with that with perk out.

[clover]

As long as Perk's arm doesn't come off, this is all great experience for the 'young three' of Baby, Perk and Rondo.  Even if there's another blowout or two when Walker and Giddens get in, that's good.  Great exposure for House and Scal, too--and fantastic for Scal's confidence.  Wouldn't hurt if Ray started hitting some more and could jack up his value a bit, either.

[BballTim]

I rewatched the Baby buzzerbeater, and I couldn't help noticing again how well the Magic guard Ray.  Hedo was all over him.  Gotta give them credit for that.

As far as I can tell AJ "blew by" Rondo a grand total of twice, both times when Mikki was the help.  Alston, you might be curious, was 1-7 tonight.

Random side note: was that Bill Russell and Mike Gorman congratulating Baby after the shot?  If so, good to seem them both.

Yes, AJ blew by Rondo twice in about 30 seconds, which is totally unacceptable. Why is he ever blowing by Rondo? In addition, Alston was 1-7, because he thinks he is a 3-point shooter and he is not. He also blew by Rondo at least twice if not more, which led to easy baskets for other Magic players. I love Rondo, but he seriously needs to step it up on the defensive end.

  You noticed the pick Howard put on Rondo one of the times Johnson got into the lane, right? Did it happen on either play for Alston? And do you really think that having 3-4 plays where the other pg gets by you in 42 minutes is unacceptably bad? Which point guards never get beat off the dribble? And how many times did Rondo get into the lane? I'd guess more than 4.

I know you think Rondo can do no wrong. On the other hand, I think he is a young player who is incredibly inconsistent. I still don't think we know how good Rondo will be, but he does make a lot of mistakes, which I guess is to be expected. However, I will not back down on the fact that often he plays lazy defense.

  I don't think Rondo can do no wrong, I just think he's become the celticsblog whipping boy. Case in point, attacking Rondo's defensive effort because he was beaten off the dribble at least 4 times in 42 minutes, when at least one of the times he was beaten because he got caught on a pick. I don't think that qualifies as lazy defense.

 I noticed you didn't have any comment about how often Rondo got into the lane. I'd guess that's because your focus when watching Rondo play was mainly to keep track of how many mistakes he made. You aren't alone in that. I also noticed that you didn't provide a list of point guards in the league who never get beat in the dribble. If Rondo's as bad as you say you should easily be able to come up with 5-10 names. Fact is Rondo's widely seen as one of the best defensive pgs in the league by people who don't frequent this board. It doesn't mean that he never makes mistakes, it doesn't mean that he rarely if ever gets beaten, but it does mean (and this will shock a lot of posters) that the other pgs in the league are also less than perfect. Watch any player in the league for an entire season and you can come up with a good list of their flaws, but that doesn't mean that players you don't see all the time don't also have flaws in their games.

  And is Rondo inconsistent? I never said he wasn't. But he's been no more inconsistent than Paul or Ray or Baby or Rose or Gordon or Howard or a host of other players. We've gotten at least as many good minutes from Rondo as we have from anyone else.

[celticmaestro]

It's an amazing thing when you take those four factors into account. What about when Ray Allen does show, Rajon Rondo does show, the bench does show and Perk is 100%? This team should be beating the Magic without that much struggle even without KG.