This year's C's the most frustrating team since last year's C's

[nba is the worst]

Rondo's jumper this year has been good so far. He's shooting around 42% on his long twos and has only take 5 threes (and made 2)

Now a higher percentage of those long 2s are wide open compared to league average, but 42% is about the rate a guy like KG makes those shots.

Now the foul shooting has been bad and its still early. Overall Rondo has looked fantastic.

As has KG!

It would be great to be able to look back at this month of the season as being the only one where injuries were a factor for the Celtics.

[celticinorlando]

jermaine oneal was a waste of the mle

[Fafnir]

jermaine oneal was a waste of the mle

Was BBD as waste last year? He contributed less than O'Neal till 1/3 of the season was gone.

Way too soon.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I hear all your points, and they're good ones. Perhaps, as someone said, I'm being childish (it's been known to happen), but I feel that certain things in last night's game shouldn't have happened, regardless of how many games they've played or how banged up they are, and no one (I think) has addressed those things: the poor execution in the final 17 seconds that led to Rondo shooting a 3, going 7 and 1/2 minutes in the fourth without a basket, letting J.J. Berea score at will.

[housecall]

jermaine oneal was a waste of the mle

So far i feel the same and if you look at the big picture of last night's lost you can place some blame on him for the lost.They went into the game expecting to have him as their C...without his presence in the middle threw off their rotation of having enough Bigs on the floor in crunch time.If JO had been available maybe KG would have been in Dirk's face on that shot instead of BBD having to be and JO on Chandler. tp

[Fafnir]

If JO had been available maybe KG would have been in Dirk's face on that shot instead of BBD having to be and JO on Chandler. tp

How do you figure that? Do you think Jermaine's availibity makes Chandler set a worse pick on KG?

[housecall]

If JO had been available maybe KG would have been in Dirk's face on that shot instead of BBD having to be and JO on Chandler. tp

How do you figure that? Do you think Jermaine's availibity makes Chandler set a worse pick on KG?

Or a longer JO in his face than BBD.

[NoraG1]

Its one game.

Congrats. You're the first one (besides me) to say it. But seriously, these guys seem to play hard, and play smart, for only about a quarter of each game. That makes it quite frustrating for me and other fans.

No need to be rudely sarcastic, I was just pointing out how BBD ended up on Dirk. Again its one game, I'm also a fan I know how it goes.

I apologize, Fafnir. I let frustration get the best of me.

Hey no worries, I'm pretty ticked too.

Everyone gets more leeway after a crappy loss. I just take it out on the refs  .

Speaking of the refs...

I didn't get to see the game, but in reviewing the ft disparity (20-7 Mavs; 47-42 rebs, 38-32 points in the paint Celtics) appeared to be the key difference in scoring.

Then, at the bottom of the box score, I saw that Bill Kennedy was the lead official.

Looks like it could have been one of those "NBA is the worst" kind of games...

Thoughts, anyone who saw the game?

Overall, I didn't think the refs did a horrible job.  There were some horrible calls, and some cheap calls that made you scratch your head considering they were letting the teams play early on, but the refs didn't cost us the game.  However, 7 free throw attempts (and 12 fouls) in a 48 minute basketball game is rare.

But the Mavs aren't a hard-nosed basketball team.  The Celtics settled too much for jump shots.  I'm sure Chandler being in the game contributed to that, but still, the C's needed to attack the basket more.

Problem is refs did a good job of helping Dallas stay in the game with alot of cheap fouls imo

[celticinorlando]

JO has shown zero. and he looks like it is going to be that way all year. he has the wrist, hamstring, back, knee...baby didn't have nagging injuries last season...and we didnt use the mle on baby. you use the mle on a guy that can contribute night in and out.

[nba is the worst]

JO has shown zero. and he looks like it is going to be that way all year. he has the wrist, hamstring, back, knee...baby didn't have nagging injuries last season...and we didnt use the mle on baby. you use the mle on a guy that can contribute night in and out.

It's too soon to make that call - but I will say I was quite surprised when the C's gave him the full MLE so quickly (IMO Shaq's numbers were better - not that HE should have made the MLE either)

[Fafnir]

JO has shown zero. and he looks like it is going to be that way all year. he has the wrist, hamstring, back, knee...baby didn't have nagging injuries last season...and we didnt use the mle on baby. you use the mle on a guy that can contribute night in and out.

I'm glad you are so confident that you can predict the entire season based on 8 games. I guess the Celtics are going to win 61.5 games too, KG and Pierce are never going to get hurt, and Shaq won't contribute either.

[Fafnir]

JO has shown zero. and he looks like it is going to be that way all year. he has the wrist, hamstring, back, knee...baby didn't have nagging injuries last season...and we didnt use the mle on baby. you use the mle on a guy that can contribute night in and out.

It's too soon to make that call - but I will say I was quite surprised when the C's gave him the full MLE so quickly (IMO Shaq's numbers were better - not that HE should have made the MLE either)

Shaq's numbers weren't better really, only his rebounding is noticeably better than Jermaine's, and his defense was much much worse.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=wJ5u1

[scaryjerry]

Technically, yes
but overall this team hasnt even frustrated me this year yet,  and if theres anything last year told you was not to worry so much about losses like Last night...I like what I see from the majority of the team so far

[Jon]

The difference between last year and this year's team is that most of the time, last year's team was blowing games because of effort.  This year, they're blowing games in large part because guys are out.  I'm fully confident that if Shaq and West had played the past three games, we would have won all three games without having to go to overtime once. 

If JO had simply stayed in the game, we would've won. 

Give it time.  And also, as last year's team proved, you can half-ass it in the regular season and come a quarter away from winning a title. 

[paul]

The whole theme of this season has to do, it seems, with trying to blend experienced older payers with young talent.  If the mix happens just right, it could really be magic.  The injuries aren't helping, then again, maybe the yunguns are getting more playing time, then they would otherwise, especially Erden.