Just saw the game!
Very glad about it, for the result, of course, but also for the effort and overall play. I was cheering like crazy in the third when we were destroying the Nuggets and making smart play after smart play... and then the "usual collapse" started and I started to worry a lot. Although it was not a collapse in the sense that our offense became stagnant or something, our defense was OK too but I thought the refs had a big role in this Nuggets run... and Melo getting hot didn't help. I hate JR Smith when he plays against us, the guy takes terrible shots for the most part but you know he can make them so you're always terrified to see him with the ball especially when his team is on a comeback run (like the 3 he shot at the buzzer at the end of the 3rd...).
Anyway, I was really glad to see the Celtics answer the Nuggets run in the 4th to get a big lead back and keep it until the end. I thought Rondo tried to be too flashy and spectacular on several plays but he was our best player on the floor tonight in the sense that he really impacted the game and stepped up when we needed him. Pierce was awesome too, I think we can now safely asusme that The Truth is definitely back in terms of health and confidence.
KG and Ray were off, KG also seemed too hesitant, he looked like he overthinked whether he passed the ball too much or didn't shoot it enough, resulting in bad choices multiple times. The bench was OK, Sheed was non-existent, Nate was OK but took some terrible shots (pullup 3 in transition with 3 teammates with you? come on!), Finley was excellent in limited time once again... and the biggest surprise was TA!
For once, Doc broke his usual rotation and got Marquis out of the game when he saw that he - once again unfortunately - plain sucked and hurt us. I don't know what's up with Quisy by the way but I sure hope he gets back to his usual level of production 'cause it's painful to see him struggle like that when we know what he is capable of. I really think Nate and Finley's additions have changed his role with the 2nd unit and he is kind of lost.
Anyway, TA really surprised me in a good way. I didn't think he would be able to contribute that much for his first real game minutes since a long, long time, but the guy was excellent defensively, perfect offensively (always on the fastbreak with Rondo and finishing every shot). Great to see him contribute after such a long absence, his energy was a pleasure to watch too.
All in all, a great win against a good opponent. I like the fact that we answered the Nuggets run in the end to win in convincing fashion. And we did an amazing job on the boards, wow!
Also, the C's seem to have that "home swagger" back and I love it.
Too bad Orlando lost against Atlanta (what were the chances of that happening?!
) but we still got the tiebreaker in our favor.
Topic: Nuggets (47-23) at Celtics (45-25) 3/24 (Read 85657 times)