Game 1 thoughts

[ScoobyDoo]

1. Anyone else notice KG coming up a little gimpy a couple times on that left ankle, winced a little bit? Also, noticed he has it wrapped with white tape higher than the other ankle.
I wonder if KG's ankle is much more banged up than we know - like a slightly torn ligament or something...
 
2. Is Chris Wilcox injured? I mean I get that Shavlik didn't get any run and maybe TWill - young, inexperienced, etc.
But Wilcox has played some pretty decent, energetic and surprisingly physical ball in the paint the last month pot two. Why wold he not even see the floor? At all?

3. In the end I thought the Celtics worked very hard to earn this loss. It was a very "well-earned loss". The game was "completely" theirs to take heading into the fourth. They made some incredibly stupid plays, one after another, after another.

A) Pierce dribbled, twice into triple teams in the lane with the exact same result - a turnover for points at the other end.

B) Unbelievably weak passes, both into the post and just to each other

C) Some horrible, horrible, horrible shots selection to start the 4th.

Just mind boggling stuff, complete mental collapse on executing and decision making.

It's like they had zero interest in winning the game and said to new York, we really don't want this win, would like to have it - you can take it if you want - we're not interested...

I know that's dramatic and not actually true, but boy when watching that 4th quarter, New York did  not take that game from us, we handed it to them on a silver platter with 4 star service.

I know they'll probably bounce back and I would expect they should win the series - but these games, form a 101 perspective - mind boggling to me.     

[Tgro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_N1OjGhIFc

Yeah, for almost 3 quarters, I thought they was scared of us. But we just "let them off the hook". Doc said it during a time out...

"We're right where we want to be"....

And we let them off the hook.

You could tell at the beginning of the 4th quarter we were going to lose that game. And even up to the last 2 minutes, we still had a chance.

We just played like crap. I expect MORE from the Celtics.

Those are NOT the Celtics I thought they were.

[syfy9]

"We're right where we want to be"....

And we let them off the hook.

TP, so, so true.

Saying that we are right where we want to be is basically inferring that their goal was to keep the game a little close instead of blowing them out so hard, Fab Melo would be playing.

Those were not the right words. The right words were "We're NOT right where we want to be, so we have to work even harder to get there."

Doc needs to play the underdog card. It'll fire everybody up easily. Ubuntu.

[CelticConcourse]

Can't wait for the magic,.... I'm so excited!!!

[eugen]

In a lot of games during regular season Cs lost at 4qrt, being up till 4qrt. Same thing during 1st game of playoff Vs NYK. I think is this team looks tired at 4rth quartes, and Doc is not doing a godd job to manage the advantege. Remeber on march 18 Cs had 17 ponits lead Vs Heat...One reason more is connected with not having in the roster a player that can finish the game, I mean a player able to score in delicate moments like Koby, Durant, Lebron etc. Might be Green to do that, but I do not see him still ready to be a game closer.

[Celtics18]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_N1OjGhIFc

Yeah, for almost 3 quarters, I thought they was scared of us. But we just "let them off the hook". Doc said it during a time out...

"We're right where we want to be"....

And we let them off the hook.

You could tell at the beginning of the 4th quarter we were going to lose that game. And even up to the last 2 minutes, we still had a chance.

We just played like crap. I expect MORE from the Celtics.

Those are NOT the Celtics I thought they were.

But the Knicks are who I thought they were.  We did let them off the hook, but, luckily, in basketball, unlike in football, a team has to win four games in a playoff series before it's over. 

I still like our chances. 

[WeMadeIt17]

Things i noticed.

Avery is the worst passing guard on this team.

The only time i saw KG gimp was he went up to block a shot in the first half after Melo drew a foul and after he came down he grabbed his ankle.

Lastly the bench needs to step up.

I would like to see Twill get some burn. He runs the point well for us and can attack the rim. We need to penetrate and dish more. I again think Twill can help with that. Would like Lee and Terry and Carwford to start hitting some shots. If we could get 15 to 20 points from our bench in this series the Celtics will win this series.

[Tgro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_N1OjGhIFc

But the Knicks are who I thought they were.  We did let them off the hook, but, luckily, in basketball, unlike in football, a team has to win four games in a playoff series before it's over. 

I still like our chances.

I agree the Knicks are who we thought they were and we did let them off the hook. That game was in our hands. We CAN beat the Knicks. But another showing like that and I don't know. We might go down 4-1 if we don't have no more fight than that.

The Knicks played like the Knicks.

The Celtics didn't look like who I thought they were or what I thought they would be come playoff time.

Totally disappointed at the amount of heart we showed. I'm used to a LOT more heart.

[Lucky17]

Being the glass half-full guy I am, I was heartened by the fact that despite poor shooting/shot selection (KG and Pierce combined for 10-27 from the field), absolutely no bench scoring, and too many turnovers due to some really sloppy passes, the Celtics still could have (should have?) won this game.

Nice efforts from Green, Bradley, and Bass. Hopefully, the entire team can build on that. C's just need crisper execution of the offense, continued effort on defense.

[lightspeed5]

My guess is that KG is playing on a cortisone shot in his ankle.

[ScoobyDoo]

What would taking a cortisone shot imply injury wise, what are the most likely injuries based on that? 

[ScoobyDoo]

and why no Wilcox...? At all..?

[Q_FBE]

We blew it - plain and simple. I think there have been a dozen cases like it all year. I hope we are good enough to get another chance. But I think the underlying problems for this Celtics team are:

1) The injury to Rondo which we lose play making creativity and effeciency (Key turnovers by Pierce and Green).

2) The injury to Sullenger which has cost us in the rebounding department (no disrespect to Bass).

3) The injury to Barbosa forcing us to use Jason Eugene Terry (Aircraft JET0004) which has been a disaster.

Final Proposed Report to the Accident Investigation KNICKS85CELTS78 - 20APR2013
It has been discovered that landing gear of Leprecahn Airs Aircraft JET0004 has had stress fractures resulting in the insufficient ability to get the required lift needed to launch 3 point missiles accurately. Given the high cycle time and heavy use of the landing gear it is recommended that the aircraft be traded to Phoenix where their owner can collect on the insurance and scrap JET0004 to The Boneyard located 30 miles NW of Tuscon AZ along I-10. Along with other incidences of wear and tear of JET0004, it this Forensics_Basketball_Evaluator that recommends to Coach Doc Rivers to relegate aircraft JET0004 to the Boston Celtics Bench immediately starting tomorrow night with Game 2 against the Knicks. Furthermore, I recommend he report to the training facility located in East Rutherford, NJ to the New York Jets podiatrist, Dr Rex Ryan for foot rehabilitation for the aircrafts personal well being on the way to being decommissioned in the Arizona desert.

This report is respectfully submitted by badge number Q_33
Senior Forensic Basketball Evaluator
Boston Celtics Blog.

(Warning – this report is not FAA approved so Leprecahn Air
s Chief Basketball Engineer Glenn Rivers reserves the right to use JET0004 for flight operations)



3)   

[slamtheking]

sticking with my initial evaluation that the C's will be hardpressed to win 2 games in this series.

the argument that this team can coast through the season and 'flip the switch' in the postseason is a fallacy.  the only 2 guys on the court from 2010 (when that argument might have held water) are PP and KG.  no one else has the experience with the team over the past several years to know how to take it to another level nor has anyone shown this year that they're capable of it.  Granted, Lee, JET and Bass have shown they can play better than they have this year but only Bass has improved his play from the start of the year.  Lee and JET are still MIA on offense. 

[Atzar]

Our starting five can hang with these guys.  It's our bench that kills us, because it just can't score unless Terry or Crawford get hot. 

If we're going to win this series, then Terry needs to pull his head out of his ass and play like the weapon he was supposed to be.  He's mired in an awful slump.

We aren't going to play a better defensive game against these guys than we did in Game 1.  Felton was quiet, Melo was inefficient and Smith actually hurt them.  We proved that we have the personnel to really cause them problems with our defense.  But that doesn't matter if we can't score the ball.