Tag Archives: boston

Are the Celts Better Than 2008?

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Although it is impossible to predict the NBA season already, I think it is safe to say that the team that Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers assembled this summer could be the best one that we have seen in at least 4 years, maybe even longer. Sure, we lost the best shooter the game has ever seen and KG and Pierce are that much older, but we brought in the perfect kind of players to fit into our system. Pierce averaged roughly the same PPG last season (19.4) as the year we won it in 2008 (19.6). Garnett’s numbers are significantly different and he is not feared by every player breaking through the lane anymore, but he is still a leader on this veteran team.

In 2008, Leon Powe  and James Posey were arguably our best bench players, both averaging about 7.5 PPG. I am willing to bet that Jeff Green, Jason Terry and Courtney Lee will all average above 10, or close to it. And with their amount of energy, experience, and Lee’s outstanding defense, they will be one of the most feared guard groups in the league, especially once Bradley is back.

There is one other major difference between the then-and-now teams, and that is Rajon Rondo. He averaged 10.6 PPG, 5.1 APG, and 4.2 RPG in the 07-08 Season.  Last year, he averaged 11.9 PPG, 11.7 APG, and 4.8 RPG. He has also developed into one of the best point guards in the league and a leader on a team that is mostly older than he.

Chris Wilcox is a solid bench player who was having a great season before getting injured. Jared Sullinger will play right away, and Brandon Bass will pick up right where he left off last season (12.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG). Not to mention Christmas, Joseph, Fab, Collins, and Smith who have all had great summer sessions and are prepared to fight for the last few spots. Plus we signed Darko Milicic who is 7’1. For those of you who don’t know him, he was selected #2 in the 2003 draft behind LeBron but ahead of Melo, Bosh, and Wade. Talk about a great pick up by the Pistons…

Although we have clearly re-fueled our roster, other teams have also gotten better. The Heat are obviously the team to beat, the Lakers had a huge summer trading for Howard and picking up Nash, and the Thunder are one year more experienced. The Spurs are always good and our division just got tougher with the new Brooklyn Nets. For anyone who thinks the Knicks are finally going to be good are mistaken. It should be an interesting season, as long as we can stay healthy for a change.

What Just Happened?

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The last time the Pats had a losing record (1-2) entering week 3, the Celtics had not won a world championship in 15 years, the Bruins hadn’t won the Stanley Cup in 29 years, the Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series in 83 years, and the Patriots had never won a Super Bowl. The last time the Pats had a losing record entering week 3, the year was 2001, or better yet, the year that started a decade of Boston sports dominance. The last time the Pats had a losing record entering week 3, they were Super Bowl champions.

Obviously it sucks and Monday’s are just that much worse when the Patriots don’t win, granted we’re not too used to that, but everything will be fine. The Cardinals are a good team (3-0), who we played like garbage against and should have won. The Ravens are also a good team, and we arguably did win that game. I’m not going to even get started on the replacement refs because they were just all around miserable for both teams. Just an utter disgrace out there and an embarrassment to the NFL not just in our game, although especially in our game, but all day across the NFL. Nonetheless, we put ourselves in the position to lose on our own and much of it started in the secondary. McCourty missed not one, but two more opportunities for a pick this week and Kyle Arrington got tripped up by the turf monster on what was sure to be a game ending interception on the Raven’s final drive. Capitalize on just one of these plays and it’s a win. It’s also a win if the opposing team misses the game winning field goal, but I won’t touch on that yet. I’m still confused about that.

PS – On a side note, you gotta be happy for Torrey Smith last night after what he had to endure just hours before the game. You can never wish that kind of misfortune on anyone, so to come out and play the way he did was great. After all, it’s just a game.

Oh Hey, Sox-Yanks Game

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As much as I’ve been trying to pretend it’s offseason for the Sox, it’s hard to ignore completely when the Yanks are in town. ESPN and sports analysts have been talking about the expected lack of interest in the Red Sox-Yankees game tonight at Fenway for the obvious reason being that the Sox aren’t in the picture. Earlier today there were a couple thousand or so tickets still available on StubHub starting at just $17, an unheard of price for a game against even the worst of teams. On the other hand, they’ve also brought up how the Sox could play spoiler to the recently struggling Yanks who are close to losing their playoff spot as well. It’s a weird situation, one we’re certainly not used to dealing with. So it begs the question, does it matter to you at all?

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Seguin’s Here To Stay

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Just as I stated yesterday while writing about the Bruin’s, the team has announced that they have continued to be in talks with multiple players in order to keep the core together for many years to come. They did so today by announcing that they have agreed to a new contract with star forward Tyler Seguin. The deal is averaged out to be $5.75 million over the next six years. He was supposed to be a free agent after this season.

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Pats Opening Thoughts

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Nothing will ever quite compensate for how much I hate Mondays, but since I’ve yet to figure out how to avoid them I guess starting the week with a Pat’s opening day win is about as close as I’ll get to my euphoric beginning of the work week. It was no 59-0 victory but damn was it pleasing to watch. Just flat out domination.

For the first time since Curtis Martin graced New England’s presence we finally saw a solid running game to accompany Tom Brady’s offense, with an exception to Corey Dillon’s short lived run as a Patriot. Continue reading →

NHL Locking Out?

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The NHL’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in just less than two months.  So far, the players like what they are getting, but the owners want more.  The rich trying to get richer, sound familiar? (See NBA/NFL negotiations). The last report shows that the players would make 46% of the revenue for the league, when they made 57% last season. Contracts would also be limited to 5 years in the new proposal.  This is a big difference seeing as Zach Parise and Ryan suter both just signed 13 year deals with the Wild, worth $98 million each.

This sucks. Hockey is just becoming very popular again, especially after the playoffs of the past few seasons.  They already cancelled the 2004-05 season, due to negotiating problems. Commissioner Gary Bettman is actually a pretty decent guy, especially compared to NBA commissioner David Stern.  He said openly that he sees the players as 50-50 partners with the owners.

Since the season is starting on October 11 (hopefully), there isn’t all that much time to get things done.  All we need is another lockout to ruin yet another sport.

Painful Loss Despite Rondo’s Heroics

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Here’s a video that sums up pretty much how every Celtics fan feels right now…

 

Last night could have been one the most heart breaking playoff losses for the C’s thus far. Just utterly painful. Falling short of the win in OT to the Heat. The only positive was Rondo’s incredible performance, nearing a triple double with 44 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists, but even that gets overshadowed by the loss. When asked about his performance, Rondo responded, “We lost, simple as that.” Exactly why as much as I want to talk more about Rondo’s night, I just can’t. One of the biggest problems the Celts had and have had was giving up second chances. There’s no way they win giving the Heat offensive boards like that. It’s just not going to happen. Regardless, the C’s better come out firing on Friday when the Heat come to the Garden for game 3, a must win for the Celtics. And Leibo…we’re missing your boy Avery…bad.

Weekend Recap

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Not a bad Monday for us those of us here in Boston reflecting back on this weekend in the sports world. The Celtics stretched their win streak to 5 games, topping off the weekend with an absolute clobbering D. Wade and the Heat. With a month left of games, the C’s sit at the 4 spot in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race and one game up on the 76ers for the lead in the division. A 14 game April will make or break the C’s and set the stage for what could be the last playoff run of the Big Three era. On the ice, the B’s took care of business in New York, taking one a piece from the Islanders and the Rangers while clinching the Northeast Division with three games left on the schedule. The Bruins wrap up the regular season Saturday at home vs. Buffalo before gearing up for playoff hockey once again in Boston. As if a weekend of winning wasn’t enough, today brings us one day closer to baseball season. The Red Sox open up regular season play this Thursday in Detroit, starting off a 6 day, 6 game road trip before baseball comes back to Boston on Friday the 13th against the dreaded Rays. It’s a good week to be from Boston. Happy Monday!20120402-163315.jpg

Throwback Thursday

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This week in sports history…

1822 – The city of Boston, MA was incorporated.

1983 – Northampton, MA – The first women’s collegiate basketball game was played at Smith College.

1904 – A patent was issued for a “baseball catcher”.

1934 – The first Masters Golf Championship began in Augusta, GA.

1953 – The Boston Celtics beat Syracuse Nationals (111-105) in four overtimes to eliminate them from the Eastern Division Semifinals.

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.