What did we learn from this Game 5 thriller?

[QuinielaBox]

* That the teams are very evenly matched when considering who is available to play.

* That our bench is horrible and must be addressed this off-season. This is not Bird, Parish, McHale, DJ, and Danny Ainge we have to throw out there.

* That it took about 50 minutes of playing time to understand that the Pierce step back midrange shot is unstoppable with proper spacing.

* That we will continue to get jobbed by the referees at every opportunity to help the Bulls defeat us in seven. THE CREW LED BY MARK WUNDERLICH WAS ABOMINABLE.

* THAT RONDO IS AWESOME.

* THAT PERKINS IS A TOP EIGHT CENTER AT LEAST.

* That Glen Davis is going to get paid by someone next year.

* That we won despite everything seemingly going against us - losing the 50-50 plays and losing the 50-50 calls.

* That it seems unlikely we will get to play Cleveland in the ECF and that this series is far from finished. Blame the lack of production from the bench.

* THat Stephon Marbury appears clueless out there.

* That Rondo and Perkins are the cornerstones of the 2010's Celtics..... We have to add the pieces back through future drafts.

* That we cannot take any game for granted this post season - should have known this right from Game 1.

* That our available energy could go at any time.

* We must get KG back if we have any chance to go back to the Finals.

* That Mikki Moore will not see playing time under any conditions for the rest of the 2009 Celtic playoff campaign.

* That we seem to prevail in games that start after 6 pm EDT no matter what cruel breaks we get.

* That Chicago Bulls is peaking now and and will probably fade away as quickly as they came on.

* We better hope that this is not the last Celtics victory this season, however it would be no surprise if this is it. The Celtics are playing burdened basketball while the Bulls continue to take it to us.

[bballdog384]

I'm not trying to be rude...

but didn't we already know all of those things?

[johnnyrondo]

* That the teams are very evenly matched when considering who is available to play.

* That our bench is horrible and must be addressed this off-season. This is not Bird, Parish, McHale, DJ, and Danny Ainge we have to throw out there.

* That it took about 50 minutes of playing time to understand that the Pierce step back midrange shot is unstoppable with proper spacing.

* That we will continue to get jobbed by the referees at every opportunity to help the Bulls defeat us in seven. THE CREW LED BY MARK WUNDERLICH WAS ABOMINABLE.

* THAT RONDO IS AWESOME.

* THAT PERKINS IS A TOP EIGHT CENTER AT LEAST.

* That Glen Davis is going to get paid by someone next year.

* That we won despite everything seemingly going against us - losing the 50-50 plays and losing the 50-50 calls.

* That it seems unlikely we will get to play Cleveland in the ECF and that this series is far from finished. Blame the lack of production from the bench.

* THat Stephon Marbury appears clueless out there.

* That Rondo and Perkins are the cornerstones of the 2010's Celtics..... We have to add the pieces back through future drafts.

* That we cannot take any game for granted this post season - should have known this right from Game 1.

* That our available energy could go at any time.

* We must get KG back if we have any chance to go back to the Finals.

* That Mikki Moore will not see playing time under any conditions for the rest of the 2009 Celtic playoff campaign.

* That we seem to prevail in games that start after 6 pm EDT no matter what cruel breaks we get.

* That Chicago Bulls is peaking now and and will probably fade away as quickly as they came on.

* We better hope that this is not the last Celtics victory this season, however it would be no surprise if this is it. The Celtics are playing burdened basketball while the Bulls continue to take it to us.

What did we learn? (see http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=27546.msg472202;topicseen#new)  Congrats on your first star. TP!

[Truck Lewis]

that you get outrebounded when u only have 2 guys over 6"7 not named Mikki and Scal

[Redz]

That we'd be better with KG 

I just can't stop thinking how good that starting 5 would be now with the way Perk and Rondo have stepped up.

[QuinielaBox]

That we'd be better with KG 

I just can't stop thinking how good that starting 5 would be now with the way Perk and Rondo have stepped up.

Does that 27-2 start provide an indicator? Losing KG probably cost us the top seed.

[Ed Teach]

The 27-2 showed how good we were, but since KG has been injured Rondo, Big Baby, and Perk have grown as players.  The bench would still not be deep, but the confidence that the 3 young ones are playing with now as compared with last year is amazing.

Last year it really was the big 3, I was nervous every game that Perk would have 4 fouls and 5 TO by the end of the 1st quater.  Tonights game Perk showed how far he has come.  The same with Rondo, when he attacks the rim he is a force.  This years playoff team is a scrappy team that refuses to die.

I would have loved to see how much better this team would be if healthy, with the improvements of BBD, Rondo, Perk and even Powe, I think this team would have matched last years team if not exceeded last years team in talent.

I really hope that the experience of playing with out KG translates to next years team, I am expecting great things out of next years team.

[QuinielaBox]

The 27-2 showed how good we were, but since KG has been injured Rondo, Big Baby, and Perk have grown as players.  The bench would still not be deep, but the confidence that the 3 young ones are playing with now as compared with last year is amazing.

Last year it really was the big 3, I was nervous every game that Perk would have 4 fouls and 5 TO by the end of the 1st quater.  Tonights game Perk showed how far he has come.  The same with Rondo, when he attacks the rim he is a force.  This years playoff team is a scrappy team that refuses to die.

I would have loved to see how much better this team would be if healthy, with the improvements of BBD, Rondo, Perk and even Powe, I think this team would have matched last years team if not exceeded last years team in talent.

I really hope that the experience of playing with out KG translates to next years team, I am expecting great things out of next years team.

Good put teach, a lot of good is coming out of this series with Perk, Rondo, and Davis reaching their potential. This team was going to be an improvement over last year even without Mr. Posey. I'm not ready for this season to end. I want to see more Celtics basketball next week.

[PosImpos]

Marbury wasn't clueless in this game, he actually played pretty well except for that one HUGE choke when he failed to take the shot.  That was fear, that's all.

Marbury, amazingly, is lacking one thing that he's been criticized many times for having too much of: confidence.  He'd be a lot more useful out there if he were confident enough in himself, not just in his teammates. As far as I've seen he's done a great job as a distributor and a pretty decent job as a defender.  It's when he's given an opportunity to make an offensive play that he chokes up, and I have to believe it's because of his lack of confidence coupled with the fact that he's still played relatively very little in the past year or so. 

Hopefully Doc hasn't given up entirely on him for the playoffs now and he will still have a chance to gain the confidence that will allow him to make some key plays for us.

I'm really glad that Doc finally gave up on Moore.  Mikki had his shot and he didn't do anything particularly positive with his minutes.  That's his fault, and our fault for picking him up in the first place.

[fairweatherfan]

I'm really glad that Doc finally gave up on Moore.  Mikki had his shot and he didn't do anything particularly positive with his minutes.  That's his fault, and our fault for picking him up in the first place.

We're gonna need Mikki back out there if we play Orlando - the only other guys on the team right now that can guard Howard are Perk and Baby, and Baby's not ideal.  I wonder if Baby sits and Scal starts in that scenario so we have a guy off the bench who can guard him. 

[Edgar]

I'm really glad that Doc finally gave up on Moore.  Mikki had his shot and he didn't do anything particularly positive with his minutes.  That's his fault, and our fault for picking him up in the first place.

We're gonna need Mikki back out there if we play Orlando - the only other guys on the team right now that can guard Howard are Perk and Baby, and Baby's not ideal.  I wonder if Baby sits and Scal starts in that scenario so we have a guy off the bench who can guard him. 

 some reason i am not scared of howard
if theo and dalemby did that great job with him imagine what perk can do.

[BASS_THUMPER]

i learned to keep an extra 40oz in the fridge juss incase of anotha over-time game

[Birdbrain]

The bench might not seem as bad with BBD and Powe coming off it.  It would have also have allowed Moore to do what he should be doing now just collecting some fouls and scoring some buckets in limited time.  The fact that he has to be playing meaningful minutes without Powe and KG just highlights his limitations.

Kudos to Rondo, Perkins and BBD whom I believe make a nice cornerstone for continued success after the Big 3 retire.  I get the sense that most here think BBD won't resign with Boston.  IMO with the latest injury the Powe the decision has been made for the C's.

To me this playoff run is nothing but, gravy and I will savor every minutes of it without trying to be too critical of a team that knows they can't win it all but, won't quit anyway.  Perkins plays Howard as well as anyway in the league if he can limit his fouls the C's can make the ECF but, it's more than likely going to be another long series.