My only option for catching the game was the 2 a.m. replay on NESN, so I'm not getting to this recap until 4:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Needless to say, it's not going to be long. Don't let the lack of girth to this post lead you to believe I didn't thoroughly enjoy this game, though. The Sixers showed amazing heart in a game they really had no business keeping closer than 20 points.
I have the rotations chart complete on my clipboard, I'll update the spreadsheet later. If you want a glimpse into my troubled mind, here's a photo of my pad after the game.
Just a few notes, then hopefully I'll have a chance to expand during the afternoon.
Nothing to really criticize Jordan for in this one. With a short bench, he did what he had to do. I'm curious about Carney, who never saw the floor in the second half. I didn't notice anything that would've led to a benching, wondering if he might have been hurt.
65% from three, with 20 attempts. Seriously, what are the odds of the Sixers shooting like that from long distance?
Kapono and Green were unbelievably huge tonight. That's the first time Willie has gotten into one of those "I'm going to take stupid shots all night and it doesn't even matter because I can't miss," zones. Couldn't have happened at a better time. He was also mercilessly pushing the ball up the floor when he was in there, which put the Celts back on their heels.
Garnett is a washed up bitch. I wish Kapono would've punched him in the junk, would've been worth it.
I only read the very end of the game thread (I'll finish it off in the morning/afternoon), but I wanted to mention that I saw exactly what Rich was talking about on that play w/ 3.3 seconds left. Jrue was all alone on the far side of the floor. It was a tough pass to make and Iguodala was probably worried about the five second call, but it was there. I thought maybe the coaches would've noticed and called the same play to see if it was there again the next time they had the same situation.
Speaking of Jrue, some good (mostly driving the lane and his passing), some bad (seemed to be rushing his shots, especially in the lane), but more good than bad. In the first half I saw him miss a couple plays on defense, pretty much always when he was off the ball. He made one really reckless gamble, he had Rondo down by the hoop, KG was at the high post, he tried to sneak up and poke the pass away. He missed it, KG immediately hit Rondo, the defense rotated and Rondo found Pierce wide open for a corner three that he hit. Learning experience, I suppose. My favorite play for Jrue would've been the laser pass he threw to Dalembert that should've gone for a dunk, but instead bounced off his two left hands and into the first row. In the first half, he had 4 really strong assists, meaning, assists that created points, rather than meaningless passing the ball around the perimeter assists (1) Iguodala beat Allen to the spot on the blocks, the pass hit him right when he got there for a spin and a dunk. (2) Alley-oop to Iguodala on the back door. (3) Offensive rebound, kick out to Jason Smith for a three. (4) Drive and kick to Kapono (I think) for an open three.
The Sixers did another bad job on the defensive glass, which was to be expected, but they actually did a better job than the Celts did on their defensive glass.
How about Primoz with a +11 in his 9 minutes of work. I can honestly say he didn't do one positive thing in his time on the floor, funny how +/- works sometimes.
Missing two starters and three of their top six rotational players, and still they scored 110 on the Celts, in Boston, on the back end of a back-to-back, against a well-rested Celtics team. Impressive.
The Celts actually completely changed their rotations to match up with our small lineups. I guess draining endless threes will get teams to do that.
The Iguodala charge was a questionable call. If that's LeBron or Kobe, the call goes the other way, but a borderline call like that with the game on the line is going the way of the bigger star 99% of the time. In this case, Paul Pierce.
23 fast break points even though they only had 4 steals and 2 blocks. Impressive.
Overall, I don't know how you can really come out of this game feeling bad. They had absolutely no business even keeping this one close under the circumstances, and they had a shot to win it even after being down by 8 with 2:29 to go.
Players of The Game: Green and Kapono Team Record: 5-10 Up Next: ATL on Friday
I actually liked the Sam/Jason at the 5/4 lineup with Thad at the 3, it seems to allow Thad to work midrange and in , he and Jason compliment each other and if each could improve slightly on their rebounding,this gives the opposing team a different look than Elton inside and Thad out wide.It was fun to watch and yes, I think the Celts are starting to show their age abit defensively.
Sam/Smith has the same type of balance that Brand/M16 has. That offense/defense inside/outside dynamic that also favors the way Dre & Thad(& Lou/Jrue for that matter) like to play the game.
Seems like they were in this game because of a lot of fluke things that don't often happen.
13 threes, from this team? Strong showings from WG and Primoz Brezec? Come on - how many times do we expect all three of those things to happen in one game?:)
We'd never expect any of them to happen, but Primoz did nothing positive in this game. His only accomplishment was staying out of the way while Willie got insanely hot.
One thing I like about Jrue's game is his very good court sense combined with improving passing skills. He really made some nice plays. He saw a lot last night. He will see even more as he develops. A benefit of him playing in this offense is that so much is read&react that his growth in that regard might be accelerated.
I suppose we'll see going forward, let's see what Jordan does - me I'd make him the starter and let him learn on the job - he'll learn and develop faster, I don't think his psyche is as fragile as Jordan thinks
Hey, I'm way late with these comments, not sure if anyone will even read, but here goes (belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, by the way) ...
I got inside the Garden around 6:45 without having had Internet access for the 2 hours before, so I was disappointed to see that they had a lineup of Dalembert-Thad-Iguodala-Green-Lou up on the scoreboard. It was only while I was chatting briefly with Kate Fagan at 7:15 that I found out the actual starting lineup, which was much definitely more exciting.
Game thoughts:
[1] I thought Jrue did all right but was helped by the fact that Rondo was strangely passive all night until the 4th. Rondo passed up at least 4 lay-ups to kick it out to the 3-point line. I heard an interesting theory on Boston sports talk radio on the way home: Rondo is afraid to get fouled, because he's shooting 33% (8 of 24) from the line.
[2] One would have thought that the team 3-point numbers were reversed (Sixers 13-20, Celtics 7-27). Upon watching the rebroadcast, I concluded that the Celtics were just cold -- only one or two of their missed 3's were challenged (and by "challenged," I mean "mildly rushed"; not even one involved a hand in the face).
[3] For the first time all season, I saw Kapono hit shots with a hand in his face (he usually only shoots when he's "open"). His free throw problems are a developing problem though: not the first time he's missed an important free throw (and he's only taken 9 all year).
[4] Backdoor sighting! On the inbounds play at the end of the first, Jason Smith took one step and went backdoor on Perkins, then got the bounce pass from Iguodala and lay-in.
[5] Iguodala was tremendous all game. I was most impressed by his post defense on Rasheed Wallace. He picked up a foul on a bogus call where Wallace fended him off with his free arm, but Wallace got no points in the post on him otherwise.
[6] Is Primo going to score this year? He's always had a good jump shot and in warmups it looked like he still has one, but he's just so slow in the post.
[7] I saw Iguodala talking with Jrue after several breaks in the action, encouraging him after some mistakes. People criticize Iguodala for not being a leader, but he is a leader in a quieter way.
[8] Both Jrue and Thad had several shots in the lane that went astray because they either got too excited or their footwork wasn't quite right. Thad really cost the Sixers with a brutal stretch (turnover, 2 misses, 2 missed FTs) when the Celts went from an 87-87 tie to a 98-90 lead, but I do give Thad credit for a great hustle play on the House breakaway in the final minute.
[9] Watching closely, I've come to believe that a lot the Sixers' pick-and-roll problems are because of Dalembert's poor decision-making. Dalembert is a good straight-up post defender, but he often doesn't do the right thing in P/R situations (doubling when he doesn't need to, leading to a lay-up; staying home to give up an open 3, etc.).
[10] After watching the rebroadcast, I'm almost positive that if the roles had been reversed, Pierce would have gotten the block call if he had run into Iguodala. Case in point, there was a play earlier in the game where Pierce ran over Thad and Thad was called for the block.
[11] Willie Green had an incredible 3rd quarter, but I wonder how many times that's going to be repeated. Green had a lot of trouble staying in front of Rondo during the Celts' big run in the 4th. I do think Green is an underrated distributor when he penetrates aggressively and doesn't fall in love with his outside shot.
[12] Whoever it was that said Iguodala never hits 2 free throws in crunch time: mark this game down. Down 4 with 1:20 left, he made 2 (and has made 15 of 16 in the last 2 games, a very positive sign for more than one reason). I actually have Iguodala down at 7 of 9 from the line in "late and close" situations this year.
[13] Celtics fans started leaving with 2 minutes left and the Celtics up 6. Nice to be spoiled like that ...
Thanks, this is great, the Boston announcers actually brought something up during the Celts game. Keep an eye on how often Thad (among others) gets completely stuck on a screen. It's not just the bigs hedging, doubling, failing to show, it's the smalls getting hung up and not fighting over, bouncing under at all on P&Rs. They just need a lot of work, and they also need well-defined rules from the coaches on how they're going to handle them depending on who the players involved are. The Boston game is a good example, when Rondo and Sheed are running a P&R out past the three point line, you just send the guard way under the screen and leave the big on Sheed. Rondo isn't a threat to use the screen to drill a three, there's no reason for the big to even hedge.
Ehhh, I don't know. If the example is Rondo and Sheed as stated here, IMO, the big has to give at least a token hedge b/c even if Rondo isn't a threat to use the screen to attempt a three, he can get an advantageous angle for a penetration if you send the guard way under the screen as you say. With Rondo's quickness, all he needs is a slither of an opening to get pursuit of the angle and if his man does go way under the screen he's (the defender) at more of a disadvantage without the hedge to at least throw Rondo off courst a bit.
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damn iverson is retiring !
sixers should sign him and let him start at the 2...cause then we can still have jrue and lou developing at the 1
I actually liked the Sam/Jason at the 5/4 lineup with Thad at the 3, it seems to allow Thad to work midrange and in , he and Jason compliment each other and if each could improve slightly on their rebounding,this gives the opposing team a different look than Elton inside and Thad out wide.It was fun to watch and yes, I think the Celts are starting to show their age abit defensively.
Sam/Smith has the same type of balance that Brand/M16 has. That offense/defense inside/outside dynamic that also favors the way Dre & Thad(& Lou/Jrue for that matter) like to play the game.
Seems like they were in this game because of a lot of fluke things that don't often happen.
13 threes, from this team? Strong showings from WG and Primoz Brezec? Come on - how many times do we expect all three of those things to happen in one game?:)
We'd never expect any of them to happen, but Primoz did nothing positive in this game. His only accomplishment was staying out of the way while Willie got insanely hot.
One thing I like about Jrue's game is his very good court sense combined with improving passing skills. He really made some nice plays. He saw a lot last night. He will see even more as he develops. A benefit of him playing in this offense is that so much is read&react that his growth in that regard might be accelerated.
Lou out for 8 weeks with the jaw.
Ahhhh that sucks for us and Lou. Is Jrue the new starter at the point now?
I suppose we'll see going forward, let's see what Jordan does - me I'd make him the starter and let him learn on the job - he'll learn and develop faster, I don't think his psyche is as fragile as Jordan thinks
Hey, I'm way late with these comments, not sure if anyone will even read, but here goes (belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, by the way) ...
I got inside the Garden around 6:45 without having had Internet access for the 2 hours before, so I was disappointed to see that they had a lineup of Dalembert-Thad-Iguodala-Green-Lou up on the scoreboard. It was only while I was chatting briefly with Kate Fagan at 7:15 that I found out the actual starting lineup, which was much definitely more exciting.
Game thoughts:
[1] I thought Jrue did all right but was helped by the fact that Rondo was strangely passive all night until the 4th. Rondo passed up at least 4 lay-ups to kick it out to the 3-point line. I heard an interesting theory on Boston sports talk radio on the way home: Rondo is afraid to get fouled, because he's shooting 33% (8 of 24) from the line.
[2] One would have thought that the team 3-point numbers were reversed (Sixers 13-20, Celtics 7-27). Upon watching the rebroadcast, I concluded that the Celtics were just cold -- only one or two of their missed 3's were challenged (and by "challenged," I mean "mildly rushed"; not even one involved a hand in the face).
[3] For the first time all season, I saw Kapono hit shots with a hand in his face (he usually only shoots when he's "open"). His free throw problems are a developing problem though: not the first time he's missed an important free throw (and he's only taken 9 all year).
[4] Backdoor sighting! On the inbounds play at the end of the first, Jason Smith took one step and went backdoor on Perkins, then got the bounce pass from Iguodala and lay-in.
[5] Iguodala was tremendous all game. I was most impressed by his post defense on Rasheed Wallace. He picked up a foul on a bogus call where Wallace fended him off with his free arm, but Wallace got no points in the post on him otherwise.
[6] Is Primo going to score this year? He's always had a good jump shot and in warmups it looked like he still has one, but he's just so slow in the post.
[7] I saw Iguodala talking with Jrue after several breaks in the action, encouraging him after some mistakes. People criticize Iguodala for not being a leader, but he is a leader in a quieter way.
[8] Both Jrue and Thad had several shots in the lane that went astray because they either got too excited or their footwork wasn't quite right. Thad really cost the Sixers with a brutal stretch (turnover, 2 misses, 2 missed FTs) when the Celts went from an 87-87 tie to a 98-90 lead, but I do give Thad credit for a great hustle play on the House breakaway in the final minute.
[9] Watching closely, I've come to believe that a lot the Sixers' pick-and-roll problems are because of Dalembert's poor decision-making. Dalembert is a good straight-up post defender, but he often doesn't do the right thing in P/R situations (doubling when he doesn't need to, leading to a lay-up; staying home to give up an open 3, etc.).
[10] After watching the rebroadcast, I'm almost positive that if the roles had been reversed, Pierce would have gotten the block call if he had run into Iguodala. Case in point, there was a play earlier in the game where Pierce ran over Thad and Thad was called for the block.
[11] Willie Green had an incredible 3rd quarter, but I wonder how many times that's going to be repeated. Green had a lot of trouble staying in front of Rondo during the Celts' big run in the 4th. I do think Green is an underrated distributor when he penetrates aggressively and doesn't fall in love with his outside shot.
[12] Whoever it was that said Iguodala never hits 2 free throws in crunch time: mark this game down. Down 4 with 1:20 left, he made 2 (and has made 15 of 16 in the last 2 games, a very positive sign for more than one reason). I actually have Iguodala down at 7 of 9 from the line in "late and close" situations this year.
[13] Celtics fans started leaving with 2 minutes left and the Celtics up 6. Nice to be spoiled like that ...
Thanks, this is great, the Boston announcers actually brought something up during the Celts game. Keep an eye on how often Thad (among others) gets completely stuck on a screen. It's not just the bigs hedging, doubling, failing to show, it's the smalls getting hung up and not fighting over, bouncing under at all on P&Rs. They just need a lot of work, and they also need well-defined rules from the coaches on how they're going to handle them depending on who the players involved are. The Boston game is a good example, when Rondo and Sheed are running a P&R out past the three point line, you just send the guard way under the screen and leave the big on Sheed. Rondo isn't a threat to use the screen to drill a three, there's no reason for the big to even hedge.
Ehhh, I don't know. If the example is Rondo and Sheed as stated here, IMO, the big has to give at least a token hedge b/c even if Rondo isn't a threat to use the screen to attempt a three, he can get an advantageous angle for a penetration if you send the guard way under the screen as you say. With Rondo's quickness, all he needs is a slither of an opening to get pursuit of the angle and if his man does go way under the screen he's (the defender) at more of a disadvantage without the hedge to at least throw Rondo off courst a bit.
Disagree, with communication the defender can jump under early and be waiting fir rondo. Until he can hit a jumper, rondo is not a threat in the p&r