I'm glad the Elbow got what was coming to him / KG's karate chop

[mmbaby]

Watching KG slap his roaming hands away twice made me so proud of the Big Ticket. And Elbow acting like huh? what am I doing wrong? I was yelling out YOU GO, KG!

Then in the 4th qtr when he entangled PP arms was pretty horrifying, considering that could cause serious injury. And he wasn't even called for a foul on that (I don't think).
Elbow is either just not good at basketball or he's doing it on purpose, and I strongly suspect the latter. Gosh I hate to see him grabbing rebounds over our players because I'm real nervous of his arms forcefully coming down on top of one of players.

They even mentioned on Celtics.com during the game that Baby's basket didn't go in because he knew Elbow was right behind him and it caused him to be nervous. Boy, I'm so glad he was nervous and rightfully so. He did NOT need to get another Elbow on top of his consussion 48 hours ago. Actually a smart move on his part and I'm proud of him and relieved mostly.

[bello_man09]

i didn't like what Kg did...but he sent a message...and i agree on  that Davis lay-up missed, he was clearly expecting that elbow...

[mmbaby]

True, Bello, re KG, it was beneath our normal high Celtic standard, generally, but not in this case, IMO. Elbow had it coming to him. He has severly injured a lot of our players with those hands and elbows and our players are rightly po'd.
I was hoping someone would do something-anything-to put Elbow in his place, and KG got in the mud and did it. I admire that. It needed to be done.

[yagru]

I LOVE what KG did.. he was sending a message.. and although it may not have been the "smart" thing, it was something ive been waiting to see for a few games now.. love kg!!

[LarBrd33]

i want an animated gif of it.  I actually liked it.  It sent the message early that KG wasn't going to be intimidated by Dwight's shenanigans.  He was telling Dwight, "get your ******* hands off me", but at the time I thought he was saying "F YOUR ELBOWS!"   KG's crazy.  I love it at times.

I also love that the refs let it happen.  Dwight had been getting away with murder all series.  Let KG say "put your hands on me... i'm going to punch your arm away... "

[BudweiserCeltic]

I also liked the karate chops. In retrospect, it was dumb because it took him off the floor because of two fouls, but I really loved it when I saw it.

[Roy Hobbs]

I didn't like the KG foul.  Four minutes into the game, it's stupid to pick up your second foul on a play like that.  The game was still close, and after that play, the Magic went on a mini-run, led largely by Rashard Lewis (i.e., the guy KG should have been guarding).  Not to mention, that should have been a technical foul, as well.

We won, so it's all good.  However, we need KG's head to be in the game, and he was out of control at that moment.  There are ways to make your presence known without repeatedly karate chopping your opponent right in front of an official.  Like, for instance, the "accidental" elbow throw when coming down with a rebound.

In a word, KG needs to be smarter.  Intensity is good, but not when it hurts the team on the floor.

[clover]

Elbow HowHard learned something in his series against the C's, whereas LeBron apparently didn't in his. 

But can he keep it up next year through the regular season?  No, or he'd do in so many opposing teams' players that even David Stern would be forced to act.  So will he save it for games against the C's?  Just ramp it up in the post-season?  Will D&D tweak the team to better face it next year?

I think they saw enough of Nate to see that he's capable of being a Nelson stopper, so it'll be interesting to see if they want him back now that he's learned the defense.

[housecall]

I didn't like the KG foul.  Four minutes into the game, it's stupid to pick up your second foul on a play like that.  The game was still close, and after that play, the Magic went on a mini-run, led largely by Rashard Lewis (i.e., the guy KG should have been guarding).  Not to mention, that should have been a technical foul, as well.

We won, so it's all good.  However, we need KG's head to be in the game, and he was out of control at that moment.  There are ways to make your presence known without repeatedly karate chopping your opponent right in front of an official.  Like, for instance, the "accidental" elbow throw when coming down with a rebound.

In a word, KG needs to be smarter.  Intensity is good, but not when it hurts the team on the floor.

Agreed and i was surprised that KG didn't keep his head about him,especially in a game this big.You don't expect veteran players to lose it like he did.Im a KG supporter but when you're wrong,you're wrong.tp

[csfansince60s]

I didn't like the KG foul.  Four minutes into the game, it's stupid to pick up your second foul on a play like that.  The game was still close, and after that play, the Magic went on a mini-run, led largely by Rashard Lewis (i.e., the guy KG should have been guarding).  Not to mention, that should have been a technical foul, as well.

We won, so it's all good.  However, we need KG's head to be in the game, and he was out of control at that moment.  There are ways to make your presence known without repeatedly karate chopping your opponent right in front of an official.  Like, for instance, the "accidental" elbow throw when coming down with a rebound.

In a word, KG needs to be smarter.  Intensity is good, but not when it hurts the team on the floor.

Roy, while I normally agree with you on most issues, and I do agree with you that the timing was poor in terms of when during the game it happened and KG already having a foul, in retrospect it was worth it because it sent a message to Howard, the refs KG's fellow teammates,the Magic as a team and the fans.

The message it sent to Howard was obvious: keep your bleeping hands off of me, or I will retaliate and the refs won't T me up for it (which they would have done to Perk, Sheed, Baby or any other Celtic except possibly Ray), and if they do, I don't care. I believe that KG was in total control of his emotions (as he often is when he's acting whacky) and calculatingly hit him both times, especially the second time when he didn't get called the first time. I believe that he was more than ready to accept the T if it came to send the message that we won't put up with this crap anymore.

The message it sent to the refs was, we're not going to take Howard's dirty play anymore, and if you don't take care of it, I'll take care of it, so go ahead, T me up, and given the furor after game 5, you don't have the sack to eject ME because of the crap that will rain down upon you from above (Stern, et al.)

The message it sent to his teammates was, OK, I will stand up to the Bully as the emotional leader of this team, consequences be [dang]ed. And the message it sent to the fans was, OK, we're not rolling over, so don't you.

Was it the classiest move KG could have done and an appropriate response to the hand check proportionally speaking and the best timing wise? Perhaps not, but it was effective and warranted given the totality of the circumstances and the mayhem done by Howard in the games leading up to this one. When you're playing a dirty player, if you want to survive you get dirty too.

Way to go KG. You used your status in the league to send a message without getting T'd. Someone needed to do it, and it could have been a lot worse given the climate epitomized in the Borges article. (intersting aside that Borges also writes about professional boxing)

[Roy Hobbs]

Well sure, in hindsight it was great.  But if we lost last night due to KG being in foul trouble, do you think fans would be celebrating the play so much?

[csfansince60s]

Well sure, in hindsight it was great.  But if we lost last night due to KG being in foul trouble, do you think fans would be celebrating the play so much?

Hindsight always is 20/20, and of course you're right that we wouldn't be happy if we had lost because of KG foul trouble. However, I think that KG's actions helped set the tone for the game with the refs, with our team with our fans and with the Magic which helped us win.

Prudent? No. Effective and necessary? Yes and yes.

[2short]

I didn't like the KG foul.  Four minutes into the game, it's stupid to pick up your second foul on a play like that.  The game was still close, and after that play, the Magic went on a mini-run, led largely by Rashard Lewis (i.e., the guy KG should have been guarding).  Not to mention, that should have been a technical foul, as well.

We won, so it's all good.  However, we need KG's head to be in the game, and he was out of control at that moment.  There are ways to make your presence known without repeatedly karate chopping your opponent right in front of an official.  Like, for instance, the "accidental" elbow throw when coming down with a rebound.

In a word, KG needs to be smarter.  Intensity is good, but not when it hurts the team on the floor.

Roy, while I normally agree with you on most issues, and I do agree with you that the timing was poor in terms of when during the game it happened and KG already having a foul, in retrospect it was worth it because it sent a message to Howard, the refs KG's fellow teammates,the Magic as a team and the fans.

The message it sent to Howard was obvious: keep your bleeping hands off of me, or I will retaliate and the refs won't T me up for it (which they would have done to Perk, Sheed, Baby or any other Celtic except possibly Ray), and if they do, I don't care. I believe that KG was in total control of his emotions (as he often is when he's acting whacky) and calculatingly hit him both times, especially the second time when he didn't get called the first time. I believe that he was more than ready to accept the T if it came to send the message that we won't put up with this crap anymore.

The message it sent to the refs was, we're not going to take Howard's dirty play anymore, and if you don't take care of it, I'll take care of it, so go ahead, T me up, and given the furor after game 5, you don't have the sack to eject ME because of the crap that will rain down upon you from above (Stern, et al.)

The message it sent to his teammates was, OK, I will stand up to the Bully as the emotional leader of this team, consequences be [dang]ed. And the message it sent to the fans was, OK, we're not rolling over, so don't you.

Was it the classiest move KG could have done and an appropriate response to the hand check proportionally speaking and the best timing wise? Perhaps not, but it was effective and warranted given the totality of the circumstances and the mayhem done by Howard in the games leading up to this one. When you're playing a dirty player, if you want to survive you get dirty too.

Way to go KG. You used your status in the league to send a message without getting T'd. Someone needed to do it, and it could have been a lot worse given the climate epitomized in the Borges article. (intersting aside that Borges also writes about professional boxing)

I agree COMPLETELY!  KG's action were worth the foul, much like his technical he got previously.  I feel he was calling out the refs and the nba.  Make a point even if it is overdone so no one can ignore it.  Howard I feel is dirty, its ok to foul but he follows through.  KG is our leader through intensity and he did what needed to be done.
I appreciated Kurt Rambis' game but someone needed to fire up the celtics and McHale stepped up and nearly killed Rambis.

[moiso]

It was an extremely stupid thing to do, but I absolutely loved it.  And they weren't slaps, they were punches as hard as he could punch!

[get_banners]

it was a huge brain fart, as far as i'm concerned. at least the 2nd one. if howard was indeed grabbing his ribs initially, then the first one is okay. but to do it twice in front of the refs was incredibly risky. he could have been T'd up for it. i don't think howard was really doing much other than holding him on the 2nd one, which is the issue. on the other hand, howard didn't pull that crap on KG the rest of the night, so maybe it worked. either way, it was a bit too risky (at least the 2nd slap), considering the stakes.