Celtics (54-18) at Magic (52-18) 3/24

[xmuscularghandix]

Marbury was never a knockdown shooter.

Why does he continue to jack up threes?

he only touches the ball with the shot clock winding down, and he's on the perimeter. paul pierce has had him open a few times and elected to pass to other people instead.

with marbury we should be running a more PG based offense where he makes the decisions... not PP.

[Tai]

What worries me -- not just about this game, but going forward -- is that Doc seems to think that because Mikki is 7'0" he should be able to guard centers.  And he just can't.  Baby is a much better match-up against Howard and most other centers; for that matter, Mikki actually makes some sense against Battie.  So I don't know why the initial match-ups were as they were.  Maybe Doc was worried about Baby picking up fouls?

FWIW, Powe did an excellent job guarding Howard the last game.  Obviously that may vary game to game, but with Mikki as the alternative, we gotta hope Leon is back and in something resembling game shape by the 2nd round.

Moore just means more depth. You're right, he's not as good basketball-wise as we hoped, but he does provide our starters rest. I mean, without him, and Powe injured, who do we put in?

[Cman]

Pierce's attempts to get fouled are weak, and much more obvious than usual.  It ain't working.

Yeah, I would really like to see him drive the basket more, so he can get to the foul line.

[MattD]

As an aside, Anthony Johnson and Marcin Gortat are two guys I wouldn't mind having in back-up roles on the C's next year (depending obviously on who else is available, etc.).

[mahonedog88]

Up until now, I unfortunately have to say that this Marbury experiment has been a failure.  I understand he hasn't played in over a year, but it's not like he hasn't shot a basketball in over a year.  He's stayed in shape and I would assume he's shot around for fun every now and then.  His shots aren't even close.  And he still is indecisive with his passing.  There's still time for it to turn around though.

And watching Pierce has been and will continue to be frustrating in the near future.  He's in such a shooting slump right now.  And obviously the only way for him to get out of it will be to continue to shoot, but it's not going to be pretty to watch.

[greg683x]

im glad they decided not to show that VERY lame kiss blowing thing Jason Kidd does on that free throw commercial.  I got sick of seeing that very quickly

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

Pierce's attempts to get fouled are weak, and much more obvious than usual.  It ain't working.

Nah, hes pumping to see if they go, and if not he goes to his counter-move...they just paid more attention to the scouting report tonight, this is a huge game for the magic, plus ive seen pierce get an and 1 jumpshot in just about every game we've played the magic this season

[cordobes]

So far, Marbury is a worse version of last season's Cassell. At least Sam won the San Antonio game almost single-handedly for us. When is it okay to start getting worried?

[MattD]

Moore just means more depth. You're right, he's not as good basketball-wise as we hoped, but he does provide our starters rest. I mean, without him, and Powe injured, who do we put in?

Oh, I agree -- I don't mind Mikki on the team as 5th (or 6th, if we count Scal) big, for injury situations just like this.  What I was griping about was Doc's use of him to guard centers rather than PFs.

[greg683x]

Mikki Moore gets no love from the refs whatsoever when it comes to taking charges.

[fan33]

Horrible turnovers, dumb offensive fouls, no boxing out and a 7 footer that is having balls taken away over his back from him by a player that's behind him.

And yet we are down 4.

Sometimes I wonder how this team stays so close with the terrible ball they play at times. it's the reason why the win so many games.

These C's do certainly and semingly consistantly like to win the roundsabouts and ugly way. Ain't pretty, yet effective, going back to last year too, IIRC, and I do

[bruinsandceltics]

Has Mikki Moore blocked one shot since we signed him?

[nickagneta]

In defense of Mikki, those two blocking calls could have gone either way and technically, when reviewed in slo-mo, were probably charges.

[Thruthelookingglass]

Pierce's attempts to get fouled are weak, and much more obvious than usual.  It ain't working.

Nah, hes pumping to see if they go, and if not he goes to his counter-move...they just paid more attention to the scouting report tonight, this is a huge game for the magic, plus ive seen pierce get an and 1 jumpshot in just about every game we've played the magic this season

He's leaning further than he usually does trying to get the call, but it's absolutely true they aren't biting.

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

marbury and moore have done nothing but actually make us worse


the magic are in control of this game