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That Was Lame

Legitimate Reasons Why We Lost.

1) Eddie and 'Sheed are just off and can't score from downtown.

2) 1-18 from three is just awful, but that was clearly a fluke.

3) Them shooting 45% from three isn't a fluke, but going about 60% in the first and third quarters is. Also, shooting (I think) 75% in the first just does not happen. Law of averages. In a seven game series (with a healthy KG), things even out and THEN we'll see who wins.

4) Lack of Rondo. Where was is? His lack of aggression was a major factor in why we lost. Why didn't he take it to a 34-year old Williams? Fear of Howard? B.S. Dish it out then. Not a good night from him.

5) Ultimately, the refs. I hate to call them out because it makes me look extremely biased and is an easy cop-out, but when there's no parity within the game, it kills momentum and the team that's getting the short end of the stick is unable to compete at the level they're able to. The handcheck fouls called when Pierce was guarding Carter were ridiculous. Meanwhile, Pierce is driving to the hoop at almost every possession, getting hammered by Howard, Carter, et. al. and getting nothing. It's completely ridiculous and I would totally approve of going for a 2-ref system like they used to have. Hell, I'll even take the one game where a ref got injured and Dick Bavetta had to referee by himself. Officiating sucks and I'd be surprised if everyone wouldn't say the same thing. Inability to criticize blatant refereeing mistakes is unfair. It's like they're untouchable and anything and everything they say goes. Fuck that and fuck that loss.

A Sort of Homecoming (Daniel Lanois Mix)

Got U2's remastered "The Unforgettable Fire" 25th anniversary edition, etc. etc. over this past weekend and among the great rarities and unreleased songs included this gem. It's a new take on the first track "A Sort of Homecoming," mixed by producer Daniel Lanois and featuring Peter Gabriel's distinct voice on backing vocals. I find it to be a great refreshing take on the song, with a faster, more rhythmic beat. The layering of voices is amazing, and Gabriel adds a sort of ethereal quality to the song that ties in well to the themes of the album as a whole.



For comparison's sake, here's the track as it was originally released on the album:

Possible deal would send Nocioni to Boston

November 17, 2009, 9:02 AM
By: Chris Forsberg

Could the Celtics be in the middle of a three-team swap that would send some of its reserves out of town in return for Andres Nocioni?

That's what ESPN's Marc Stein reports today, noting the Celtics have emerged as potential middle man as the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings consider a Samuel Dalembert-for-Kenny Thomas swap.

From ESPN's True Hoop blog:

Sources told ESPN.com that the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings, in considering the feasibility of a Samuel Dalembert-for-Kenny Thomas swap, have discussed expanding that concept with Boston by trying to draw in the Celtics on a potential three-way deal that would land Andres Nocioni with the Celts.
Sources further stressed over the past 48 hours that this should be classified as an ongoing conversation as the teams involved decide how much they like what's on the table.

But the full deal as it stands, if it eventually gets that far, would send Nocioni to Boston, Kenny Thomas, Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine to Philadelphia and Dalembert and J.R. Giddens to Sacramento.

Later Stein, examines the feasibility of the trade, team by team. Here's his thoughts on the Celtics:

Boston has had interest in Nocioni from the minute Sacramento acquired him in February in the deal that dispatched Brad Miller and John Salmons to Chicago. That said, Boston has also been hesitant since February about acting upon that interest because Nocioni has three years and more than $20 million left on his contract after this season. That's a lot of long-term cash for the Celts to take on -- even if Nocioni turned out to be a James Posey-style Mr. Versatile for them -- after they just signed Rajon Rondo to a lucrative extension and with decisions about the futures of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen looming. So Boston pulling out because of financial concerns likely ranks as the biggest impediment to this deal.
Nocioni, a 6-foot-7 forward in his sixth season, turns 30 later this month. The one-time All-Star is averaging 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in nine games (including five starts) for the Kings this season.

Nocioni helped Argentina win a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens (and bronze in 2008 in Beijing). His original Olympic exploits helped him land a free-agent deal with the Bulls before the 2004 season. Nocioni later signed a 5-year, $38-million contract with the Bulls during the 2007 offseason, but was dealt to the Kings this past February along with Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons for John Salmons and Brad Miller.

In Too Good of Health

Jon and Wokkus playing some Madden football with their team of created players, including the one and only PJ Brown. Here's just a brief snippet of what went on:

Celtics Show (Yet Again) Defense Wins Ballgames

Back-to-back games can be a killer, especially when it's the first one of the season and the Big 3 haven't yet played 2 games in a row. And more especially when you've got KG who's still working on getting his stamina back. Well last night's game was a big "eff you" to that notion.

Sure, we were playing the Charlotte Bobcats who mysteriously traded Emeka Okafor for a struggling (and I mean struggling) Tyson Chandler. Still, when you hold a team to a franchise-low in points and also a record for fewest points allowed in a season opening game (for the Bobcats), that's something that certainly holds some weight as to how good the team is. After playing a tough buzzer-to-buzzer, heavyweight battle against Cleveland the night before (and not landing in Boston until 2 am), I'm sure I wasn't alone in my fears that this game certainly had the possibility of being a trap game. Those fears quickly went away as we ran out to and early 8-0 lead and didn't look back.

KG and Perk combine to give Boston the best defensive team in the NBA

Garnett put in another very solid performance on his return to Boston, once again showing no ill effects from the knee surgery that everyone and his mother has been worried about. 10 points on 5-9 shooting and 7 boards in 25 minutes. Definitely respectable. Not dominant, but we don't need dominant from really anybody because of the scoring distribution and defense our team has. We had 5 players score in double figures: KG, Ray Allen (18), Pierce (15), Rondo (10), and Shelden Williams (12). Speaking of Williams, I know the guy played basically garbage minutes, but he was pretty damn good. He was scrappy and continued to attack the paint and draw fouls well into the fourth quarter. Not to jinx anything, but he reminds me a little bit of Leon Powe. We'll see how the season goes with him, so we'll be able to get a better sample size. But so far so good.

KG was his usual aggressive self, showing no signs of hesitancy with his knee

Oh, hey. You gotta love Perk, don't you? He's improved so much over these 6 (?) years. The guy is BIG. Not necessarily tall, but freakin' muscular and defensively-minded. I've noticed that he falls for upfakes less and less. How could you not love that play were Raymond Felton drove into the lane and Perk rejected him ("Get that shit outta here!). Felton got the rejection on the baseline and Perk was left to guard him. Felton used his speed advantage to get past him and tried for another layup. Perk (from behind!) swatted another one away. He and Tyson Chandler (really, why did the Bobcats get this guy?) were chippy throughout the game. Perk let his defense speak for itself. Chandler tried a turn around fadeaway at the free throw line, which Perk calmly blocked back in his face. Chandler ended up getting a technical foul for yapping at Perk back up the court. Needless to say, Perk got one also, but only to show Chandler that he was in his territory. Way to be. Those t's are fine with me.

Rondo was busy as hell, too. He scored efficiently (5-6 shooting for 10 points), passed to everyone and everything (11 assists), and used his ginormous hands to make 3 steals. Here's a crazy stat: in the third quarter, Rondo had twice as many assists as the entire Bobcats team. In the THIRD QUARTER. Insane.

KG goes through his ritual pre-game routine in his first game back in Boston

Ray Allen showed some early struggles shooting from the field, but he continued to shoot the ball, and his teammates trusted him enough to keep feeding him. He ended up as the game's high scorer with 18 points (6-17 shooting, but 4-10 from deep). The best thing about tonight's game was that Doc was able to rest all of his starters (although Ray played 38 minutes). KG only played 25, Pierce played 24, Rondo played 29, and Perk played 27. This type of play bodes well in the long run, as it saves our legs for down the road.

The Celtics' solid play allowed the Big 3 to rest for the entire 4th quarter...

One point of contention, not directed at the Celtics play, but at the refs. This happened on more than one occasion, so it's totally worth mentioning and something that should get fixed (I'm talking to you, Mr. Stern). Pierce was often guarding the out-of-control Gerald Wallace and at least 2 times drove his shoulder into Pierce in an attempt to get around him and to the hoop. Both times Pierce guessed correctly which way Wallace would drive, causing him to slam directly into his chest. Each time the ref called a blocking foul. First of all, I don't care what position the defender is in, the offensive player cannot put his head down and drive his shoulder into him. Automatic offensive foul. Second, if the guy runs square into the chest of his defender, who is standing straight up and down, that's a charge. Automatic. Plain and simple. I understand that charges/blocking fouls are among the hardest calls in the game, but in those cases, they are easy.

...while the bench players continued to dominate

In all, it was another great display of defensive prowess and sharing the scoring load (see: 20-0 run to start the 2nd half). As Doc and the players have said so many times, the offense will always be there; the focus has to be on the defense. That's the equation for success and, so far this young season, it's worked to a "t".

Pierce, Bench Secure Opening Game Win for Celtics

Why hello there everyone! It's been a while since we've had a proper Celtics game recap on here. I might be a little rusty, but let's get right into it.

This was a big win. Not only because it was the first game of the NBA season, but because of the quality of play we had going and the team we played against. Aside from the stagnant first quarter, the Celtics got contributions for essentially everyone at the perfect times during the game. The bench carried our offense (and defense) throughout the second quarter, trimming an early 14-point deficit to single digits before halftime. Paul Pierce, quiet throughout most of the game, showed why he's the captain, putting the game out of reach with two daggers at the end of the 4th (as well as a few clutch free throws). Garnett twisted, turned, pivoted, and shot like his old self, including an insanely difficult turnaround-fadeaway bank shot in Shaq's grill. Was the game perfect? Of course not. For a quarter and a half, I sat in silence on the couch pissed off that our offense was nowhere to be found. We made bone-headed plays--ya know, stuff that junior varsity teams often make, which I'll get into shortly.

Hmm, wonder who won this matchup...

Actually, let's start with that bad stuff. Let me start by saying that I love Rondo. Like, I think he'll become one of the top 3 PGs in the league at the rate he's improving. That being said, he can be really dumb--or maybe a more kind word is overexcited. For instance, instead of trying to DUNK the ball on LEBRON JAMES, how about you lay it up off the glass? LeBron blocks it and it's goaltending. You miss, Pierce is right behind to clean up the miss. Instead, Rondo sometimes feels like it's necessary for him to make a humongous play against a more athletic, taller opponent. Sure, if he does dunk on him, it's a momentum changer, but in that specific situation, don't try that again, please. Also, can we communicate in those situations?? When Ray Allen went in for the layup on the fastbreak, I don't think anyone shouted out to him, "Ray. Heads up. LeBron is right behind you." If someone had done that, Ray's wily enough to avoid an embarrassing block, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Another thing that irked me, from both Rondo and the rest of the team, is this whole passing in traffic/jumping in the air and passing thing. Let's hope we got that out of our system. On more than one occasion, we had someone drive, jump in the air with no real plan, and then try to pass it off. This almost never works. If Cous had been calling that game, he would've said the one fundamental thing a point guard should never do is jump and try to pass. Another "never do that!" play is trying to force a pass in traffic or cross-court. Unless the guy is completely open (as Ray Allen was a couple times when they executed the pass well), don't do it. The chances of it getting picked off go up by a lot. And what's the purpose of trying to pass the ball into Shelden Freakin' Williams as the paint is loaded with the likes of Shaq and Big Z, among various other players from both teams? Probably the worst thing you could do in that situation. I don't dislike Williams, he did a relatively decent job (and will have to) in the absence of Glen Davis (PS-Like Wyc Grousbeck, I too will refuse to call him "Big Baby"--the guy clearly needs to grow up. The whole off-court-altercation-leads-to-injury thing ONLY happens on other teams. I don't care if your buddy pushed you or whatever started it. Why in HELL would you jeopardize your reputation and your team's success? Congrats, dumbass. You're now out for at least 6 weeks with a broken finger and maybe longer depending on disciplinary action. Okay, end of rant.) Williams, as I said, was respectable (4 pts, 3 rebs in 13 minutes). He scrapped down in the paint and drew fouls, which is all you can ask for from a guy who's not even an offensive option on any given play.

The thing I was most pleased in seeing was not just the points, etc. from the bench last night, but every single player off the bench had a little "+" next to his name in the box score. The plus/minus thing means how many total points the team got while a certain player was on the court. It's a real good indication of his impact. Cleveland, on the other hand: all minuses. Seriously, their bench is just not good. Even with Delonte West back in action in the near future, they won't be very effective at all. I LOVE our bench. Marquis Daniels is a terrific player and has great ball-handling skills. What a great pickup. Not only can he play 3 positions, but the fact that he can act as point guard opens up Eddie House to be the shooting guard that he naturally is. We didn't have that last season. Daniels is also a great defender, allowing the likes of Pierce and Allen to "rest" defensively while he guards other teams' best players, like James. He doesn't have much of a long jumpshot that I know of (except that baseline 3 he hit was nice, so he does have the range), he's more of a slasher, with deceptive quickness. He had a quiet 7 points in 18 minutes, but was a +11 while on the court. Sheed looked great as well. His ability to spread the floor is something we've missed since who knows when. I just love when Doc put the lineup of Sheed, KG, Pierce, Ray, and Rondo on the floor, forcing Shaq/Z out of the paint to guard them. No one can defend us in that situation, it's as simple as that. Perk is still a very important part though. Although he got burned 3 times in the first quarter by Shaq (he did play great D--Shaq was just able to hit those baby hook shots), Perk continued to grind it out down low, forcing Shaq as far out of the paint as possible. When he did that, Shaq was ineffective. Honestly, I think Cleveland is in trouble. Shaq was dominant in the first quarter. I was afraid it was gonna be another one of "those games" where we just can't stop the opposing team's big guy. But he showed his age. He undoubtedly got tired and played absolutely zero role the rest of the game. They have no bench and LeBron is one-of-a-kind, but as we've seen, he can't carry the team the whole way. The "help" that has supposedly arrived this season just won't cut it from my point of view. Of course, it's only been one game and only time will tell, so let's wait and find out...

KG and Perk show off some of the famed Celtics D as Varejao looks like an idiot.

I refuse to talk about KG's knee. Bill Simmons thinks it's something everyone should be worried about, given the ambiguity with which the issue was dealt when discussed with the media. He says whenever anyone of KG's age has knee surgery, his career goes down the tubes. Although I think Bill Simmons is some sort of god, I just have to disagree. Look, the guy knows his stuff, but after watching every preseason game and now this first game, the guy is already in mid-season form (not stamina-wise, of course). He was able to get up for an alley-oop pass, which would've been slammed home had it not been for the position he was in (back turned to the basket). I think the kicker was when Shaq threw him down to the ground and KG just got up and pounded his chest as if to say, "Yep, I'm my old self still," then calmly knocking down 2 free throws. I honestly see no problems stemming directly from the knee that will affect his game this season.

It was none other than The Truth that sealed the W for the C's.

And what can I say about Pierce that hasn't been said before? The guy's like a snake. He plays very quietly, though efficiently, for 3 and a half quarters and when the game is on the line, he completely ices it with two jumpers and free throws down the stretch. I loved the play when KG came out to set a high screen on James. Pierce split the defense, crossing Shaq over no problem, then pulling up at the top of the key and hitting a jumper over Anthony Parker: swish. Next possession, the switch this time and now Clownhead Varejao is on Pierce. A little step back jumper from the right side: swish. Game out of reach. That's why he's the captain.

LeBron James can do just about everything, but it's not enough if the Cavs want to make a championship run.

All in all, this game was great. If you look at the box score, the scoring was incredibly well-distributed among both starters and bench players. Not so with the Cavs, which should be a giant red flag for them and their fans. LeBron carried the scoring (and assist...and block...and steal) load for them. The "help" that they so desperately needed last season and which supposedly arrived this season simply did not cut it. The Celtics made them look like a second-tier team (they aren't--they'll make the playoffs, but they're not as good as everyone thinks, in my opinion).

Celtics vs. Bobcats tonight at 7:30.