Well the season certainly did not end the way we were all looking forward to, but nevertheless its over and time to move onto the offseason. Each day for the next few weeks I will go position by position evaluating the talent and depth at each position, as well as ways the Patriots can improve at each of them.
Quarterback: Tom Brady is obviously the starter for the next few seasons and there is no debate there. The backup position however is certainly under question though. Brian Hoyer is a restricted free agent this offseason meaning the Patriots have many ways to keep him. I look at this as a similar situation to Matt Cassel but without that year of experience Cassel had. The Pats would love to keep Hoyer but with many other needs on the team this offseason they will not overspend for a backup QB. I think the Patriots may have realized they won’t be able to keep him and that’s why they drafted Ryan Mallet. Whether the Patriots plan to have Mallet be Brady’s predecessor has yet to be determined. I expect Hoyer to be playing elsewhere next season and the Patriots will reach out to a veteran backup to help season Mallet.
Celtics pull out a relatively easy W over the Bobcats as they win 94-84. Garnett led the team in scoring as he had 22 on 10-15 shooting. Rondo had his second straight night with 14 assists and also put up 10 points. Bobcats shot 45% from the field which was helped by Derrick Brown’s 10-10 night shooting. Jujuan Johnson played only 2 minutes after playing 22 the night before.
But the night was all about Paul Pierce. While he had a relatively poor shooting night by his standards, 6-18 for 15 points, he again led the Celtics +/- ratio with a second straight game of over +26. You could tell Pierce wanted to get it over with, he started out the game well, but missed two open three’s to clinch it. The fans almost willed the first one in, but we had to wait until after halftime for Pierce to go down in the books. He drained hist first shot after halftime to become the Celtics second all-time leading scorer. Rondo assisted on the memorable basket as he ran underneath the hoop and kicked it to an open Pierce for three.
Pierce on what it would mean to catch Havlicek. “Records are great, but it would mean more to me and the fans if we won another championship, so that’s my goal.”
Extra Notes: 12th straight game for Pierce with five or more assists. Always a great night when Tommy screams into the microphone, “THIS IS STUPID”. Pavlovic played 7 minutes, airballed a three and let a rebound through his legs and wasn’t seen again. Stiemsma played 2 minutes and had 2 points, 1 block, and 1 forced travel.
Kobe comes to Boston this week as the Celtics take on the Lakers Thursday at 8:00 PM.
Even though it was close early, #1 Kentucky proved to be a little bit too much to handle when they battled #7Florida in an SEC conference game. Forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 13 points and added 13 boards in the 20 point blowout. Doron Lamb added 18 and Anthony Davis added 16 and a few nice blocks and alley-oops.
#15 Creighton was upset by sub-par Evansville in a Missouri Valley Conference showdown. They have lost two straight now, and since they have not beaten any ranked teams, or even played any for that matter, they will most likely fall to the 22nd-25th rank, or just won’t make it at all.
#3 Ohio State was barely able to hang on against unranked Purdue. Senior Guard William Buford was able to drop 29 points and grab 7 rebounds while other star Jared Sullinger was able to score 18 points and grab 6 rebounds of his own.
The Celts (13-10) take on the Bobcats (3-21) tonight at the Garden. Completely turning it around this season, the Celtics are 8-2 in their last 10 games and are currently riding a 4 game win streak. Charlotte, on the other hand, have lost 11 straight. At this point, 48 year old majority owner Michael Jordan should consider putting himself into the lineup.
Paul Pierce is averaging 18.6 points per game after an extremely slow start for him (plus an injury). He is now only 9 points behind Larry Bird for the Celtics all-time scoring leaders.
1. John Havlicek 26,395
2. Larry Bird 21,791
3. Paul Pierce 21,410
The Celtics are now #11 in the power rankings, 5 spots better than last week. They are 2nd in points allowed per game with 86.7 ppg (the 76ers are the only team better with 86.5 ppg). However, we are only averaging 90.7 points per game.
Well after this weekends games (including Thursday night’s game vs. the Canes) the B’s came away with 2 points. Not quite the 4 points I was hoping for. The team played poorly vs the Hurricanes and got swept in the season series which is an embarrassment, but we at least we don’t have to worry about seeing them in the playoffs. Before the big game on Sunday the Bruins earned a strong win over a skilled Caps team, hopefully giving Chiarelli a chance to take a look at a potential trade target, Alexander Semin.
Based on their play so far, I think this team has a legitimate shot to repeat with the expectation to at the very least be back in the Conference finals. Last season Kelly and Pevs added a lot to the team in terms of depth, experience, toughness, and in Pev’s case, speed. The Bruins have a ton of cap room so they can afford to take a rental with an expiring contract. This team already has a lot of young talent so adding a strong veteran (similar to a Recchi) should benefit the team, but also adding a guy like Semin with some sniping ability is going to help the powerplay.
The golden rule for Chiarelli: DONT F UP the chemistry!!! It’s a big part of this team’s success.
I don’t know if anyone caught on, but yesterday was more or less a day of silence here at the Boston Sports Blog. A protest, hometown sorrow, reluctance to think about the event that occurred Sunday…call it what you will, but it was in everyone’s best interest to just leave it out of the equation. After all, there really is nothing to say.
With a day gone by we’ve now had some time to reflect on the game, although it’ll definitely take a whole lot longer to get over it. Regardless, I’m not going to dive into the details of the game because we all know how it ended and no one wants to hear it. Instead, how about the aftermath? It hurts to lose to New York in any sport, whether a preseason game or spring training baseball game. What happened after the Pat’s loss Sunday, notice I’m calling it a Pat’s loss not a Giants’ victory, was very “unPatriot-like”. The two most obvious:
-Gronk and Co. getting Gronked (that’s an understatement) at a post game party
-Mrs. Tom Brady ripping on the receivers
A very New York-esque reaction to a loss if you ask me. We’re not used to seeing this in Boston, especially from a Belichick disciplined Patriot squad. It’s hard to hate on Gronk for doing his thing but it’s just not exactly the same a few hours post loss. Granted, Giselle isn’t a player and the rest of the team came to the receiver’s defense, here’s my question. Which incident was the worst to see as a Pats fan?
After his 21 points against the Grizzlies, he finds himself only 9 points behind the Legend for 2nd place on the Celtics all-time leading scorers. Pierce has been a Celt his entire career, through the dreaded 18 game losing streak of 2006 and leading the Celts to the 2008 championship. It’s only fitting that he’ll hopefully pass the Legend at the Garden on Tuesday before the Boston faithful.
In honor of Paul, here’s his top five moments with the Celtics.
5.) Beginning of “The Truth”
Back in 2001, the Celtics played the Lakers and Paul had one of his best games in his short career. He scored 42 points against the eventual NBA champs as Boston lost. Shaquille O’Neal pulled a reporter aside and told him
“Take this down. My name is Shaquille O’Neal, and Paul Pierce is the [expletive] truth. Quote me on that, and don’t take nothing out. I knew he could play, but I didn’t know he could play like this. Paul Pierce is the truth”
And that was the beginning of The Truth.
4.) First game back from being stabbed
Paul’s life was in danger after he was stabbed 11 times September 25, 2000 in a nightclub. His life was saved by his then teammate Tony Battie. Luckily, paul was wearing a heavy leather jacket. This stopped the knife from hitting any key internal organs. Not only did the Truth start the first game of the season on October 31st, he played in all 82 games that year and led the team in scoring with 25.3 points per game.
3.) 21 Point 4th Quarter Comeback 2002 Playoffs
After getting ripped to shreds by Antoine Walker before the fourth quarter, which in itself is hilarious. Paul comes out and scores 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and led the Celts to victory over the Nets after being down 26 at one point in the second half and 21 to start the fourth quarter. Pierce was dominant, getting to rim at will on a young Richard Jefferson. This was the biggest comeback in NBA history in the playoffs. This whole fourth quarter comeback is on YouTube and is almost a must watch for any diehard Celtics fan.
2.) Pierce and Lebron Battle in 2008 Playoffs
Hands down one of my favorite games of all time. Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals and it was Paul Pierce and Lebron James just going at it. Bucket after bucket the game went back and forth. Pierce ended up finishing up with 41 points and Lebron ended the game with 45 and the big L. Most underrated part of the game was the big shot that PJ Brown had at the end of the game to put the Celtics up by three. People forget how much Brown provided at the end of the year with the clutch shooting and the great post defense. He would be huge on the team this year.
1.) 2008 NBA Championship
In the first game of the series Paul was injured and had to be carried off the court and wheelchaired into the locker room. I remember thinking that we were done. There was no way we could stay with the Lakers if Paul was out. A few minutes later to a roaring crowd, The Truth comes back and hits two straight threes to regain the lead and help take game 1 of the series. Paul was named NBA Finals MVP after they won the series 4-2. He averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds. He also played great defense on Kobe throughout the series and kept him under control.
The Steelers have signed former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley today to become the team’s offensive coordinator. You might also remember Haley because he was the OC for the Arizona Cardinals during their miraculous playoff run in the 07’-08’ season.
Many might look at this as no big deal and if you do you are certainly mistaken. Haley is one of the top offensive minds in the league today, and having him take over an already potent Steelers offense certainly worries me as a Patriots fan. The Steelers rarely make big signings outside of the organization, but I definitely think this move will pay off. In Arizona, Haley worked with the Kurt Warner to Larry Fitz combo. He certainly has a similar combo here talent wise with the deep threat from Roethlisberger to stud receiver Mike Wallace. When this offense is at full health expect big things this year.
Great time to start writing about the Celtics on the blog as our guys have won their last four games in a row and seven out of the last eight. The Celts finished off the week with a 98-80 win over the Grizzlies. It was a game that the Celts had no trouble with as the Grizzlies have been hit pretty hard by injuries over the course of the year. While the Grizzlies had been picked to be a surprise contender in the Western Conference, losing big men Darrell Arthur (Achilles-Season ending) and Zack Randolph (Torn MCL – Back Early March) put a major dent into their team and they have struggled to stay around .500. On top of those two, former Celtics defensive stopper Tony Allen missed the game with a sore hip and knee.
The Celts looked great though. Rondo in his second game back was his usual self, while he only had 5 points, he had 14 dimes. Jujuan Johnson looks like he’s going to be stealing most of Stiemsma’s minutes from here on out as he got 22 minutes tonight and responded with an efficient 10 points on 5-8 shooting. Kevin Garnett had another 3-pointer to get his season tally to 3-3, as he posted 24-9. After the game KG was questioned about his ability to shoot the threes, he told people to stop being surprised.
“When I walk around the streets, y’all stop acting shocked I can shoot threes. Everybody in Boston, everybody in the world, everybody in Minnesota, LA, wherever I’m at; Concord, Lexington, Burlington. I can shoot threes, OK? Let that go.”
But the big story of the day is Paul Pierce. The Truth had another great all-around game as he posted 21-6-6. The big turnaround in the Celtics season has been Pierce getting in shape. When he’s playing well getting to the line, hitting his open threes, and keeping the ball moving the Celts look unstoppable. Once he started to get his game legs underneath him the Celts have been on a tear. After his 21 points against the Grizzlies, he finds himself only 9 points behind the Legend for 2nd place on the Celtics all-time leading scorers. Look for another article on the Truth’s greatest five moments as a Celt later on today.
Well that was devastating…I’m not going to sit here and tell you a full story on how or why the Patriots lost this game, its over and done with. I’m just as upset as the next guy and I’m sure none of you want to hear any more about it.
Obviously there has been some post game comments by Tom Brady’s wife taking shots at their wide-receivers lack of ability to bring in the big catch, but then again what does she know? Here comes something I’m sure most of you haven’t heard about.
Quick rewind here: Go back to the Patriots play with 17 seconds left with the ball on their own 44 yard line. Brady lines up and out trots 12 Giants defenders. Was it intentional? Doesn’t really matter anymore and if it was then it’s a smart call by Coughlin and the Giants staff. They run the play; Brady sees the flag and then takes his shot down the field. The pass falls incomplete with 9 seconds to go in the game and the referee makes his call. The Giants get a 5-yard penalty for too many men on the field, and yes that’s the right call. But what about the clock? The clock stayed at 9 seconds remaining. Some of you might be asking what my point is here. So instead of the Patriots getting two, or even three shots at the end zone they end up with one. What is 5-yards at this point in the game? It’s nothing. Anyone in his or her right mind would exchange 8 seconds run off the clock for 5 yards at this point. What prevents a defense from sending 16 guys out there in this situation? It’s a very slim possibility any team completes a big play against 16 defenders. Clearly this is not the reason for the outcome of this game, but I am pretty certain the NFL will be changing this rule.
Quarterback: Tom Brady is obviously the starter for the next few seasons and there is no debate there. The backup position however is certainly under question though. Brian Hoyer is a restricted free agent this offseason meaning the Patriots have many ways to keep him. I look at this as a similar situation to Matt Cassel but without that year of experience Cassel had. The Pats would love to keep Hoyer but with many other needs on the team this offseason they will not overspend for a backup QB. I think the Patriots may have realized they won’t be able to keep him and that’s why they drafted Ryan Mallet. Whether the Patriots plan to have Mallet be Brady’s predecessor has yet to be determined. I expect Hoyer to be playing elsewhere next season and the Patriots will reach out to a veteran backup to help season Mallet.
Boston Sports Blog 