Game 1 against the Knicks discussion

[PseudoElite]

First of all let me say that I'm ecstatic we won, it would've been devastating for morale if we lost the 1st game on our own floor.

Now, the good, the bad, and the ugly:

GOOD
- Ray Allen 24 points, yay!
- Jermaine O'Neal's phenomenal play tonight was one of the only things keeping us in the game.
- GREAT rebounding, even if NY is a bad rebounding team.
- Rondo played pretty well, except for some pretty bad decisions down the stretch which almost cost us.
- This win SHOULD theoretically give us good momentum going in the rest of the series, this was a crucial game.

BAD
- Bench didn't show up, we need better production from them, at lest 10-15 a night.
- 18 turnovers. This isn't the regular season anymore, unacceptable.
- We can't play horrible in the 1st half and expect to come back in the 2nd, it's a recipe for disaster.

UGLY
- Big Baby Davis 1-8 shooting
- Big Baby Davis said Amare was "easy to defend", and guess what happened....
- Big Baby Davis should shut up and keep his tough guy talk for on the court with some good play. No one likes a bigmouth who can't back it up.
- No but honestly, I like Glen Davis, but he's our 6th man, he can't play like this every night in the playoffs. Let's hope he shows up next games.

Anything I might have missed? How do we address these problems?

PS: LOVED the Ray Allen 3 at the end, my house went crazy!

[Frezz]

In the interest of fairness... if the refs called an offensive foul on Pierce like they did with Anthony with 20 seconds left, I'd be furious.

[RedsCeltics34]

Amare was just scoring at will, it was pretty unreal. That dunk on JO and KG, wow. But what a game, I had NO doubt we would come back and win. Just like my Knicks fan friend got all happy when they were beating is in that regular season game @ NY, I told him "Celtics arent going to lose to celebrate while you can" today he didnt even celebrate because he already KNEW what was going to happen, haha.

[PseudoElite]

In the interest of fairness... if the refs called an offensive foul on Pierce like they did with Anthony with 20 seconds left, I'd be furious.

Absolutely, no disagreements there.

We did get some pretty horrible calls throughout the night though. You got to sell your fouls and Pierce did, any other NBA player in his place would've. But yeah that's easy to say when it isn't against you.

[slamtheking]

First of all let me say that I'm ecstatic we won, it would've been devastating for morale if we lost the 1st game on our own floor.

Now, the good, the bad, and the ugly:

GOOD
- Ray Allen 24 points, yay!
- Jermaine O'Neal's phenomenal play tonight was one of the only things keeping us in the game.
- GREAT rebounding, even if NY is a bad rebounding team.
- Rondo played pretty well, except for some pretty bad decisions down the stretch which almost cost us.
- This win SHOULD theoretically give us good momentum going in the rest of the series, this was a crucial game.

BAD
- Bench didn't show up, we need better production from them, at lest 10-15 a night.
- 18 turnovers. This isn't the regular season anymore, unacceptable.
- We can't play horrible in the 1st half and expect to come back in the 2nd, it's a recipe for disaster.

UGLY
- Big Baby Davis 1-8 shooting
- Big Baby Davis said Amare was "easy to defend", and guess what happened....
- Big Baby Davis should shut up and keep his tough guy talk for on the court with some good play. No one likes a bigmouth who can't back it up.
- No but honestly, I like Glen Davis, but he's our 6th man, he can't play like this every night in the playoffs. Let's hope he shows up next games.

Anything I might have missed? How do we address these problems?

PS: LOVED the Ray Allen 3 at the end, my house went crazy!

I wouldn't say the rebounding was great.  they struggled in stretches to control their own boards.  refer to any time BBD and Green comprised our frontcourt. 

other items:
Good: they finally woke up and decided to play in the middle of the 3rd.
Bad: they waited until the middle of the 3rd to wake up and play and then needed a last minute Ray 3 to win it.  (and rely on a dumb final play by Melo to seal the win)
Good: Rondo hit some elbow jumpers
Bad: Rondo and BBD stunk on FTs
Good: Shaq wouldn't have made much of a difference in all likelihood.
Bad: Krstic is apparently hurt meaning BBD is now our backup center.   

I still say C's in 5 but the games will be a lot closer than I originally thought.

[mc34]

We go as Rondo goes. Its so painfully obvious when he isn't going all-out (see: first half). Then in the second half, he was skying for rebounds, driving, dishing, etc. We need the Rondo from the second half today, minus the two nearly backbreaking turnovers.

[PseudoElite]

Any word on Kristic? Having only 1 available center is pretty bad.

[More Banners]

Some interesting things here.  A few adjustments I'd consider:

Limit PP's minutes in the 1st half by bringing in Green early.  Green showed he can guard Melo competently, and it would save PP's legs for the 2nd half/4th quarter.

Ray, I don't know.  Yeah, big shot and all that, 24 points, but he is completely dependent on others right now.  That's not starter material to me.  I love W. Ray Allen, but it's getting harder to watch him play...or rather it's harder to watch the team spend almost the whole possession trying exclusively to get him a shot, and ending up with a crappy BBD move.

Speaking of BBD, when is his contract up?  He sure does call his own number a lot once he gets the ball, and took A LOT of bad, bad, forced shots.  But he sure seems to know where to be to get the ball...

JO looked good, as did Delonte.  If only their health was reliable.

BBD...minutes should come down.  This is the series to play Green and KG together at the big spots and ATTACK.

Ronnie Turiaf is tougher than most players on our team.  Fortsonesque, but with some rudimentary skills, too.

[jasail]

Tale of two games.  It was the same old, same old for the Celtic's in the first half.  Offensively, they continued the trend of playing a slow paced, half court game and again it resulted in stagnant ball movement and bad percentage shots late in the possession.  On the other half of the floor, they were a bit stronger but played with little urgency or energy.  That type of play allowed the Knicks to stay in the game, building momentum at the end of the second.  

Second half, different case.  Defense played with good energy; they played lockdown perimeter defense, crashed the boards (particularly Rondo), and blocked shots.  That type of play allowed them to get out in transition and that is their greatest offensive strength.

With all that said, their interior defense was abused and they had a few too many turnovers (but that is a persistent problem).  Moving forward they have to play with better energy throughout the entire game and step up the interior defense.  They do that and the turnovers will become less damaging.  

As for the bench, Davis and Kristic were strong but Delonte played very well and as Tom stated in his article although Green did not put up a big line he played hard.  

Also, anyone else think wins like this are eventually going to get to their heads.  IIRC this is the 3rd game this season the Knicks lost to the Celtics in the waning minutes; I hope it becomes a monkey on their back.  

[hwangjini_1]

Any word on Kristic? Having only 1 available center is pretty bad.

especially when that center has incurably bad knees and has already missed most of the season. 

if shaq could come back to play 15 minutes a night along with 20 minutes by JO, i have no doubt the celtics would get #18 this year. but wishes dont work too well. sigh.

[slamtheking]

Also, anyone else think wins like this are eventually going to get to their heads.  IIRC this is the 3rd game this season the Knicks lost to the Celtics in the waning minutes; I hope it becomes a monkey on their back.  

actually, I think this game will have the opposite effect. 
- Nothing much out of Melo in the 1st half.
- Amare had his way on offense
- Fields contributed nothing
- Billups wasn't available on that last play
- C's came out sleepwalking again even though it's the playoffs and needed a desperation shot to win the game.  and the game was in Boston.

Knicks won't be hanging their heads after this game.

[BASS_THUMPER]

why worry bout shaq when we got so many other weapons.

[ejk3489]

And Rajon Rondo was walking with his right knee wrapped and limping. Could be precautionary. #celtics

http://twitter.com/gwashburn14

Anyone know what this is about? I know about Rondo's feet and ankle injuries, but never his knee.

[BASS_THUMPER]

i dont twitty bird

[Dunn]

I will give Baby credit for just the eight shot attempted. He didn't force much and his five rebounds are always welcomed.

I will never get on Rondo for turnovers in fastbreak because he is doing the right thing even forcing the action. He needs support by his coach with personnel. Everybody can see Rondo wants to run, but Doc rather have Green on the floor with Delonte? People are right to question a deal for a player who hardly is being utilized right.