The 3rd quarter will be key against Orlando

[Drucci]

In the regular season series against Orlando, the Celtics got outplayed by the Magic in every 3rd quarter, and by a wide margin. Overall, Orlando is a mind-boggling +32 in the third quarter against us... see more info in this great analysis by OrlandoPinstripedPost. I guess we all remember the terrible collapse in the 3rd quarter of our last home game against them... something like 30-10 for Orlando, or along this margin.

In 2008 the 3rd quarter was our strength, especially in the playoffs, it's the quarter where we came up strong and usually made big runs. We've seen this in the Cleveland and Miami series, and it's a big factor that improves our chances against Orlando (if you refer to the regular season stats between Orlando and Boston) :

In the regular season, the third quarter was the Celtics' worst (-0.8 ), especially defensively (allowing 106.1 points per 100 possessions). And the Magic outscored them by an average of 8.0 points in the third in their four regular season meetings. But in the postseason, the third quarter has been the Celtics' best, outscoring their opponents by an average of 3.8 points in their 11 games thus far.

The difference has been the offense. The Celtics are shooting 53 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in the third quarter thus far in the postseason.

Source

So basically the 3rd quarter is our biggest strenght once again, while it killed us during the season, and especially against Orlando. Hopefully this means Doc will be able to react to Stan Van Gundy's adjustments (or strike first) and our players will keep making shots instead of going flat.

Anyway I thought it was a key in this series and a factor worthy of its own thread so we can discuss it and see how it evolves during the series.

[wdleehi]

The third quarter was a big issue for the Celtics in the regular season against way to many teams.


They have been coming out with the intensity from halftime in the playoffs that was missing in the regular season.

[BballTim]

In the regular season series against Orlando, the Celtics got outplayed by the Magic in every 3rd quarter, and by a wide margin. Overall, Orlando is a mind-boggling +32 in the third quarter against us... see more info in this great analysis by OrlandoPinstripedPost. I guess we all remember the terrible collapse in the 3rd quarter of our last home game against them... something like 30-10 for Orlando, or along this margin.

In 2008 the 3rd quarter was our strength, especially in the playoffs, it's the quarter where we came up strong and usually made big runs. We've seen this in the Cleveland and Miami series, and it's a big factor that improves our chances against Orlando (if you refer to the regular season stats between Orlando and Boston) :

In the regular season, the third quarter was the Celtics' worst (-0.8 ), especially defensively (allowing 106.1 points per 100 possessions). And the Magic outscored them by an average of 8.0 points in the third in their four regular season meetings. But in the postseason, the third quarter has been the Celtics' best, outscoring their opponents by an average of 3.8 points in their 11 games thus far.

The difference has been the offense. The Celtics are shooting 53 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in the third quarter thus far in the postseason.

Source

So basically the 3rd quarter is our biggest strenght once again, while it killed us during the season, and especially against Orlando. Hopefully this means Doc will be able to react to Stan Van Gundy's adjustments (or strike first) and our players will keep making shots instead of going flat.

Anyway I thought it was a key in this series and a factor worthy of its own thread so we can discuss it and see how it evolves during the series.

  The Celts got outscored by 32 by the Magic in the 3rd quarter over 4 games, but 25 of that came from our last game against them, during our Jan/Feb swoon. The other 3 games were tie, -3 and-4 for us. I don't think this is a real issue.

[Vermont Green]

I think the OP is correct to point this out.  It seemed that during the regular season, we would often put up a good first half and then come out flat in the 3rd.  That was the regular season Celtics though and it seems as though the team really has flipped a switch for the post season (even Tony Allen).

I really like the Celtics chances in Game 1 as the Magic have been waiting for a week.  It seems to me that historically (I don't have stats to support this) that "rust" prevails over "rest" for the first game of a series.  Beyond that though, I think that the Celtics have been far too schizophrenic to be predictable in any way.

I like the C’s match-ups against the Magic but I also think that Jameer Nelson is potentially a difference maker.  It is true that we can cover the 3 pointers better because our big man size and depth allow us to play Howard without leaving guys open but Nelson is one guy who can really break things down.  Rondo is a good defender but doesn’t seem to be great at just staying in front of a guy like Nelson.  That causes switches and helps that then leave guys open as well.

[Jon]

Honestly, I think the biggest key to this series is not doubling Howard.  While people want to compare him Shaq, he's really something closer to an oversized Alonzo Mourning (meaning he doesn't have Shaq's polished post game).  The biggest mistake teams make is doubling him and opening up Orlando's three point shooting.  Then, even when they miss, Howard gets the board and the putback, which inflates his stats. 

Perk handles Howard better than anyone in the NBA, BBD did a heck of a job on him last year keeping him away from the basket, and Wallace is very solid on him as well.  The C's need to guard him one on one, which will take everyone else away.

Jameer Nelson really is no better than Mo Williams.  Both are really shooting guards in point guards bodies.  The difference so far in this playoffs has been that Jameer has gotten a million open looks, whereas Mo (mostly) had a hand in his face every game.  If Rondo stays home on Nelson, Nelson will be about as effective as Mo Williams was in the Cleveland series. 

[Vermont Green]

Jameer Nelson really is no better than Mo Williams. 

I agree totally with the approach to Howard that you describe, I disagree with the Nelson part though.  I can't support this in any way other than stating it as my opinion or observation.  Mo Williams can get hot and score but overall was not really that good in the most recent series.  I see a much more versatile player in Nelson and also I believe he has that intangible winner's mentality that I just don't see in Williams.

This will be one of the interesting subplots of the series that is going to be fun to watch play out.

[Prof. Clutch]

Jameer Nelson is a far superior player to Mo Williams.

[Drucci]

We won the 3rd quarter 33 to 26 in game 1 to go up by 16 heading into the fourth quarter... so it confirms the pattern. Although we lost the 4th quarter 30 to 18 so maybe I should have made a thread about the 4th quarter.

[Rondo_is_better]

Jameer Nelson is a far superior player to Mo Williams.

Mo Williams would have had the poor start Nelson did today, and then just kept playing poorly. Nelson turned it on (to a degree) in the 2nd half. The difference is in their the ability to jump start themselves.

[celticinorlando]

game one was a great 3rd quarter for boston...gotta keep it going

[misha]

Jameer Nelson is a far superior player to Mo Williams.

Mo Williams would have had the poor start Nelson did today, and then just kept playing poorly. Nelson turned it on (to a degree) in the 2nd half. The difference is in their the ability to jump start themselves.

Yep, if I had to choose, I would take Nelson way before Mo. Mo is a choker (and not in a good way ).