Author Archives: leibo4

Finally…Center Grades

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Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Kevin Garnett

15.1

8.3

2.6

1.12

.94

+136

20.4

Up until last week, KG would have been placed with the power forwards, but with the injury to Jermaine O’Neal, KG has been moved to center and thrived. KG doesn’t have the quickness that he used to in his prime but understands maybe better than anyone else in the NBA how to use his body defensively and to be in the right position.

20120308-120538.jpgPositives: By all accounts KG, has not Pierce or Rondo has been the Celtics best player this season. He has the highest PER on the team as well as the best +/-. As I said up above, KG just understands the game. He is still quicker than most centers and gets to good position defensively and the five game win streak was correlated to KG being switched to center. His jumper from outside is still pure as ever. He stretches the floor just like Bass does, and allows room for Rondo, Ray, and Paul to drive the lane. He is still the heart of the Celtics and he brings the intensity to every single game. Last season according to Synergy, KG was the second best defensive power forward in the game, behind Taj Gibson.

Negatives: He has lost the quickness and the ability to jump that he had as a youngster and it shows on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. Quicker players just go right by him as he helplessly looks on. Also, KG doesn’t seem to want or feel the need to box out. If he stuck a body on some players he would have saved at least 30 offensive rebounds this season for the Celtics. His knees are also a constant worry for the Celtics and his minutes need to be monitored.

Grade: B+

Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Jermaine O’Neal

5.0

5.4

.4

1.72

.32

+26

9.7

Positives: Jermaine O’Neal is the rare NBA player who has completely transformed his game. Long gone is the high-flying center that would sky for dunks on one end and have highlight reel blocks on the other. He still blocks shots now, but it is completely due to his great positioning and timing instead of athletic ability. He is also the rare player who has the ability to not only block shots, but be in position to take charges. Before his injury Jermaine was up and away leading the NBA in charges taken this year. He is also one of the Celtics best rebounders and provides much needed big man depth for the team.

Negatives: His offensive game has much to be desired. He has a decent 10-15 foot jumper, but outside of that, does not bring much else to the table. He is constantly hurt and his latest wrist injury, may keep him out for the rest of the season. Poor guy, because his body just doesn’t seem to be able to hold up anymore. On top of the wrist, his knees are farther gone than KG’s.

Due to the uncertainty with his wrist for the rest of the season. The Celtics may look to cut Jermaine O’Neal to open up space to sign another big man for the playoff run. They also were looking to trade his expiring contract. While I love Jermaine and his passion, I am not sure that the Celtics are going to have him on the roster past this season.

Jermaine O’Neal Update

Grade: C+

Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Greg Stiemsma

1.7

2.3

.3

.89

.25

-82

11.1

Positives: The steamer has been a fun player to watch this year. Burdened with big expectations after a big preseason, Stiemsma has played well in some situations and looked lost in others. He is averaging almost a block every 9 minutes and has shown great defensive ability. He also has a better than expected 10-15 foot jump shot that he’ll hit every once in a while.

Negatives: He is not always ready to play and will sometimes just look lost or confused out there. He takes chances defensively going for the big block and can look silly out there. Other than a few jumpers, he is extremely limited offensively and has terrible hands. You gotta love the steamer though.

Grade: C

Power Forward Grades

Small Forward Grades

Shooting Guard Grades

Point Guard Grades

 

76er’s Blow Out C’s

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After winning five in a row after the Celtics didn’t seem to 20120308-092507.jpgshow up at all against the 76er’s. The Celtics were coming off two overtime games in a row and it clearly showed against the 76er’s. After starting out the game down 14-11. The 76er’s opened up the game with a 30-10 run off of turnovers and bad transition defense by the Celtics. During the run the Celtics shot 4-27 from the floor and were just missing easy open jumpers. The 76er’s were led by Evan Turner who turned his first start into 26 points on 11-19 shooting. He also grabbed 8 defensive rebounds and was huge in starting fast break after fast break for the 76er’s who ran the Celtics into the ground. The rest of the scoring for the 76ers was pretty even as Elton Brand had 18 and Lou Williams had 15.

The Celtics were led by Pierce with 16 and Garnett with 12, honestly not much to talk about the Celtics tonight. The offense was some of the worst that I had seen in the time with the big 3. The 33 first half points were the least, since Danny Ainge traded for Garnett and Ray Allen. I’m going to attribute this loss to some old legs playing a back-to-back after an overtime game.

The Celtics play the Blazers Friday night at the Garden at 7:30.

Extra Notes:

Celtics bench got a lot of play tonight, only Marquis Daniels played under 13 minutes for the bench as Doc played all 13 players; Ray Allen was 0-5 from the field and had his only 2 points from the line; Celtics only had 11 turnovers overall most of them coming during the run, and then 2 more by Marquis late; Tony Battie and Craig Brackins also started but only played 15 minutes total.

Avery Bradley Alert:

Avery had one big highlight of the night for the Celtics, stuffing Jrue Holiday’s last second shot to the ground and leading a fast break which ended up in the hands of Brandon Bass for the dunk. Other than that he was pretty quiet from the field shooting 2-3 and making both of his free throws for 6 points on the night. Lou Williams did put a fade away three right in Avery’s eye; I’m not sure how he could have played better defense, pretty great shot by Williams.

 

Peyton Manning Press Conference Reaction

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LeBron James take notes, Peyton Manning just showed you how to make yourself a legend in a place after your gone. He left with his head held high, while reminiscing on all of the good times he had with the Colts and Irsay. Instead of throwing the Colts organization under the bus, Manning went out of his way to praise the Colts, Irsay.

The Colts keep saying they want the best for Peyton. They are saying that they are doing a favor for Peyton by releasing him because they didn’t have the pieces that they had in 1998. I mean if they had the same pieces in 1998, would they have cut Peyton then to save him the trouble. There not doing it for the cap, there not doing it because Andrew Luck is the first pick of the draft, but because they want what is best for Peyton. Yeah right.

To me Irsay is the quintessential girl who says one thing to your face, and then would go behind your back to say things to other people or in this case the media. After all that Irsay has said, I found it ridiculous that he started crying and said it was over. To me it seemed like a total PR move, people were offended at the way the Colts had been treating Peyton so far and everything about the conference from the Colts point of view went perfect. During the question and answer section, Irsay stood next to Manning awkwardly while Manning was asked questions. It was awkward and only served the purpose to show how sad that Irsay looked.

Back to Peyton, I couldn’t have been more impressed than he left me. There’s many ways that Peyton could have handled it, but he carried it with class and a level of sophistication rarely seen any more in sports. Peyton said in the press conference “the contract and the money were never a factor”, which was not true at all. The Colts by doing this today avoid paying 28 million bonus. Within the next few moments, Irsay was talking about how it would save the Colts cap room.


The biggest thing was the way that Peyton connected with his fans. He mentioned how he is separated from the Colts but not from the great city of Indianapolis. He told them how he loved being their quarterback. There was no mention of taking his talents anywhere. He’s not going to South Beach; he is going to keep working out in Indianapolis. He even went to say that he had not been able to think about playing for another team yet. He showed the blueprint on how to leave a team, it was the opposite of the decision, maybe because it was made for him, but the openness and vulnerability shown was good to see in the business-driven world of sports.


How Not to Treat a Legend

Power Forward Grades

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Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Brandon Bass

11.0

6

1

.9

.41

+47

15

Positives: Trading Bass for Big Baby was a great move for the Celtics. Bass has probably one of the best midrange jumpers in the game. Even though his jumper makes you think he’s an inch from falling over every time, it is one of the most pure in the game. When he and KG are on the floor at the same time, the Celtics become a much better team. They space the floor and create more open shots for Pierce and Allen. Bass also gives the Celtics a good isolation player in the post. Finally Bass brings an energy and willingness to bang on the boards which lacks from most of the Celtics big men. Played though a tough knee injury for two weeks until he was forced out by the doctors

Negatives: While he is learning the complex defensive schemes of the Celtics, the basic fact remains that Bass is not a great defender. He has definitely improved this season playing with KG and for Doc, but some weaknesses still remain. He is not tall and can be shot over by taller players.

Grade: B+

Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Chris Wilcox

5.6

4.5

.5

.35

.42

+23

13.7

Positives: Wilcox is an above average offensive player who brings energy off the bench for the Celtics. He is the best at getting out in transition and Rondo rewards him with alley-oops most of the time. Big time energy player for the Celtics, but his production depends on his health.

Negatives: Has been injury prone throughout his career, and it hasn’t changed this year. He is also undersized and when he finds himself on the floor with someone other than KG, the Celtics begin to get manhandled in the post.

Grade: B-

Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

+/-

PER

Jujuan Johnson

4.0

1.5

.2

.43

.14

+7

15.9

Positives: Johnson has been a nice surprise for the Celtics. As many people wrote him off as a prospect until he put on some weight, Jujuan has shown his scoring ability translates to the NBA. John Hollinger isn’t surprised as he said that he will be a solid role player for years to come. He has been a good help defender and is learning Doc’s schemes well.

Negatives: For being 6’10 he needs to get his body weight up. He is way to skinny to bang with Gerald Green nevertheless players like Amare Stoudemire.  Needs to work on his rebounding a little bit, but I feel it will come when he starts filling out his body.

Grade: B

 

Other Position Grades

Small Forward

Shooting Guard

Point Guard

 

Other Celtics Articles

Should the Celtics trade Rondo?

Who had the Better Night Rondo or Williams?

Jermaine O’Neal Update

Who had the Better Night Rondo or Williams?

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Rajon Rondo had a night for the ages yesterday against Linsanity, as he became only the third player in NBA history to have over 15 points, 20 assists, and 15 rebounds. Then not to be outdone, Deron Williams had a game for the ages. He scored 57 points and went 21 from 21 from the foul line. So here comes the question. Who had the better night?

Players

MIN

FGM-A

3PM-A

FTM-A

OREB

DREB

REB

AST

STL

BLK

TO

PF

+/-

PTS
Rajon Rondo, PG

48

7-20

0-0

4-7

4

13

17

20

1

1

4

3

+5

18
Deron Williams, PG

38

16-29

4-11

21-21

1

5

6

7

1

1

5

2

+11

57

Espn.com

Rondo’s stats were obviously helped by the extra overtime period. As that’s when he came up with some of his best play scoring 5 points, 2 assists, and grabbed 5 rebounds. He could have easily had 5-10 more points as he missed 3 free throws and a few easy layups throughout the game. But time and time again whenever the Celtics needed some points, Rondo found the basket or the open man. He was huge for a team in need of a big lift.

Williams had 17 points at the half and then exploded in the 3rd quarter for 22 points. Williams is the total package as a point guard, quick, strong, with great vision, and a great outside shot. He absolutely dominated the two smaller Charlotte Bobcat point guards, Kemba Walker and D.J. Augustine in the paint. He bullied the two point guards until the Bobcats were forced to put Gerald Henderson on him down low, and then Williams went to work on him. The Bobcats decided to not double team off pick and rolls and it came back to bite them hard.

I have to give the edge to Rondo here, as the competition for the Celtics was a whole lot better than the Nets had last night. Other than the Heat it’s hard to find a hotter team than the Knicks right now, and Rondo clearly outclassed the Knick team last night. Deron had an unbelievable game, but it came against a team that has 4 wins on the season and is already looking towards next year. It’s hard to pick against him, but you don’t see nights where a player finds himself alone with Wilt Chamberlain and the
“Big O” Oscar Robertson too often.

Edge: Rajon Rondo

Celtics Weekend Review

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The Celtics came out of the Weekend back over .500 as they won both games over the Nets and the Knicks. The Celtics beat the New Jersey Nets 107-94 and the Knicks 115-111 in overtime. Pierce was the leading scorer in both games as he scored 27 and 34 points. Kevin Garnett had double-doubles in both games as shot over 50% for the weekend in total. But the weekend belonged to Rondo. Rondo had 14 points and 13 assists in the first game, and then exploded Sunday for 18 points, 17 rebounds, and 20 assists. This was the third game in the last three weeks where Rondo had a triple double, and his fourth of the season. According ESPN Rondo joins Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the third NBA player in history to have over 15 points, 15 rebounds, and 20 assists.

Player

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Rajon Rondo

18

17

20

Wilt Chamberlain

22

25

21

Oscar Robertson

32

15

20

Add in all the missed layups Rondo had in the game and he could have easily had 25-30 points. Rajon also became only the 3rd player in the last 25 seasons to have over 15 points, assists, and rebounds in a single game, joining Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson. Shout out to my friend Cody for this stat, the NBA has had 10 triple-doubles this season, and Rajon Rondo has four of them. He has been the only player with more than one triple-double on the season.

Ever since the Jermaine O’Neal has been out with his injured wrist, KG has slid over to the five position. It has been huge for the Celtics. The rebounding has been better, and KG’s defense on the 5’s has been great. He has also been able to get his shot off better as the 5’s do not want to come out as far to defend KG and let him drive by for the easy two. If or when O’Neal comes back, the Celtics should stick with KG at the five and have Jermaine come off the bench. Bass and Wilcox are playing too well at the four to have both of them come off the bench for the rest of the season.

The Celtics play next on Tuesday at the Garden against the Houston Rockets at 7:30 PM.

Jermaine O’Neal Injury News

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Jermaine O’Neal injured his wrist in the game against the Mavericks and it was initially ruled as a sprained left wrist. He met with a hand specialist in Boston and the injury was ruled much more serious than expected. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported that O’Neal has three options.

1.)    Take a cortisone shot

2.)    Minor wrist surgery

3.)    Season-ending wrist surgery

O’Neal is currently deciding on which situation to choose. It should be noted that Jermaine has struggled with wrist injuries in the past.

Going forward, it looks like Garnett will get moved to center and it looks like Brandon Bass will start at power forward. Chris Wilcox and Jujuan Johnson will get more run off the bench as the Celtics will probably run more in transition.

If the Celtics end up losing Jermaine for the season, they will be losing what has been their best post defender this season. Jermaine O’Neal has been rated by synergy as one of the top-ten defensive players in the NBA this season. He has a unique ability to be able to block shots and take charges. But at this point in his career Jermaine is extremely weak offensively. He ranks 49th out of all centers offensively this season even 9 spots behind the steamer, Greg Stiemsma.

Hopefully Jermaine comes back this season and helps the Celtics. I was hoping that they would be able to use his contract to trade for some future assets or players (Michael Beasley’s contract matches up nicely). But I am trying to not to get too greedy.

USA Beats Italy for the First Time Ever

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The USA came out with a 1-0 victory over the Italian side today for the first time in the United States history. Clint Dempsey scored the game winner in the 55th minute after Jozy Altidore took down a cross from Fabian Johnson and laid it off for Dempsey to slot it under two Italian players in the bottom left corner.  The goal was Dempsey’s 25th career goal for the national team and one of his biggest all time. He is the 4th all team leading goal scorer for the United States. But while Dempsey is going to get all the praise, Tim Howard showed why he is one of the world’s most respected goalkeepers. He kept the United States in it in the first half with his big saves, and made a few more late as the Italian side never stopped pressing. He had seven saves overall.

The United States looked the best they have looked in the Jurgen Klinsman era. They were tight as a group defensively and put together passes better than they have in any other game thus far. A lot of credit goes out to Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu for holding down the middle of the field and controlling play. Andrea Pirlo is a master with the ball and found time to pick out his players, but Bradley and Edu played as well as you can expect. Bradley especially came up with big tackle after big tackle and proved his worth to Jürgen in the middle. Jonathan Spector also had a huge game after he came on as a substitute for Fabian Johnson in the 77th minute. He got in the way of shot after shot of the Italians and came up with a few more crucial tackles. Jozy played extremely well tonight as a hold up player and Terrance Boyd made the first appearance of what will hopefully be many more.

Italy has to be frustrated as they were caught offside 9 times by the referees. They also have to be kicking themselves because they also had 19 shots during the game, 8 corner kicks, and over 60% of time of possession. Sebastian Govinco was extremely dangerous to the United States when he wasn’t being caught offside as he kept using his quickness to get behind the defense.

Starting Lineups for the US (4-4-2)

G – Tim Howard

D –Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Clarence Goodson, Fabian Johnson

M – Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Brek Shea, Daniel Williams

F – Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore

Subs Used:

Jonathan Spector, Sasha Kljestan, Terrance Boyd, Edson Buddle

The United States next three games are all friendlies against Scotland (5/26), Brazil (5/30), and Canada (6/3).

In other soccer news, Spain beat Venezuela 4-0, Netherlands beat England 3-2, France beat Germany 2-1, and Argentina behind 3 goals from Lionel Messi beat the Swiss 3-1.

Celtics-Bucks Preview

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The Celtics (16-17) are looking to start another winning streak as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks (14-20). The Celtics are now tied for seventh place in the eastern conference with the Knicks and are 2.5 games ahead of the Bucks in the race for the 8th spot. The Celtics are coming off of a 86-83 win against the pesky Cleveland Cavaliers where the Bucks are coming off the a 119-118 win over the Washington Wizards.

Brandon Bass came back from his injury and hit his first five shots for the Celtics last night. It was pretty promising as both he and Wilcox looked healthy. Wilcox grabbed 11 rebounds. The Celtics were led by Ray Allen who looked fresh after having the All-Star break off as he went for 22 points. Pietrus also had his biggest dunk of the season with that surgically repaired knee starting to look real good. Finally my man Avery Bradley played well again going 3-5 from the floor with 3 assists and no turnovers.

The Bucks are being led by Brandon Jennings as he is averaging 18.2 points per game and 5.3 assists per game. Last night Mike Dunleavy came off the bench to score 28 points. The Celtics have to be careful with the ball tonight because the Bucks scored 26 points off of 15 turnovers. The Celtics also have to watch out for Ersan Ilyasova who has been a beast on the boards this season. He has 4 double-doubles in his last five games including a 29-25 game against the New Jersey Nets 10 days ago.

Keys to the Game

Turnovers

As it has been all season the Celtics have to keep the turnovers down to a minimum. Pierce and Rondo had 11 turnovers. As the Bucks turn a lot of turnovers into points, the Celtics are going to need to take care of the ball if they’re going to want to get the winning streak to 2.

Rebounding

As I mentioned earlier Ilyasova is a beast. He has been killing teams on the boards this year. And the Celtics have been getting killed by everyone on the boards. They need to box out and go after rebounds defensively and offensively. It’s not a you-take-it kinda deal. I want to see them fight for rebounds and stop giving up easy second chance points.

Tip-Off is at 7:30 tonight.

Celtics-Cavs Preview

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The Celtics (15-17) look to start off the second half of the season with a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers (13-18). The Celtics have lost 7 of their last 8 games and their last 5 straight. This is the deciding game of the season series as both the Celtics and Cavs have both won one. Kyrie Irving had the game winning layup in the first game as the Cav’s went on a 12-0 run to beat the Celts by one. Two days later the Celtics almost blew a 22 point lead against the Cav’s but managed to hold on for a 3 point win.

The Celtics are supposed to get Rajon Rondo (suspension), Brandon Bass (Knee), and Chris Wilcox (Groin) all back to play against the Cavs. Look for Rajon Rondo to come out and attack the basket early on in the game as he came out during the All-Star break and took the teams struggles on his shoulders. When Rondo attacks the hoop early, it bodes well for the Celtics chances. Getting both Bass and Wilcox back will be huge for the Celtics as they are two of the better rebounders for the Celtics and Varejao has killed the Celtics on the board this year. They will both bring an offensive presence to the Celts as Bass is deadly with his jumper and Wilcox is Rondo’s favorite player in the transition game.

Keys to the Game

Turnovers

Until the Celtics can consistently stop turning over the ball 15+ times per game, this is going to be on here. The Celtics are turning over the ball the 8th most in the NBA. It doesn’t matter how good of defense they are playing because of all the easy buckets they are giving up from rebounds and turnovers.

Rebounding

The Celtics rank dead last in rebounds per game, they are getting outrebounded by their opponents by over 3 rebounds a game. Getting Chris Wilcox and Brandon Bass back will definitely help the Celtics. The Celtics have to look to box out Anderson Varejao who had 9 and 20 rebounds in the two previous games.

 Marquee Matchup

     vs.    

The marquee matchup tonight is Rajon Rondo vs. Kyrie Irving. Rondo is coming off a two game suspension and the All-Star game while Kyrie is coming off the MVP of the Rising Stars game where he scored 34 points off 8-8 shooting from 3. Look for both players to attack the paint and be very active all over the floor. Whichever player wins this matchup will likely win the game for his team.