Saturday, March 17, 2007

C's/Mavericks - 3/16/07

“The Celtics really have this Tim Duncan syndrome. I don’t know what it is.” – Donny Marshall on the C’s struggles against the Spurs.

- Maybe Tim Duncan is awesome. And he’s played on some pretty good teams too.

- Later as Dirk Nowitzki struggled through three quarters Marshall wondered if all the MVP talk was hurting his game. It was clear to everyone else that Dirk was not trying.

- At one point Al Jefferson got the ball around 12 feet out, turned to face the basket, pump faked, pump faked again, drove to the middle of the paint, executed a 2 footed jump stop, pump faked, and then went up and under the defender for a lay up. DeSagana Diop had no clue what hit him. Overall Jefferson played well (20 points, 10 rebounds) but he has to make quicker decisions at times.

- I’m convinced Boston would have won if Delonte West had a decent shooting night (3-12 from the field).

- Henry Abbot talked about one of the most important story lines heading down the stretch in his Suns/Mavericks round up the other day. That is the on court relationship between Nowitzki and Jason Terry:

“I have a feeling that, in his heart of hearts, Jason Terry trusts Jason Terry to win the game more than he trusts Dirk Nowitzki to win the game. That's fine, I guess, but doesn't it seem like eveyone should be on the same page? If the team's philosophy is that Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse are options A and B in the clutch, shouldn't the team be working to get those guys open? Instead they have given the ball to Nowitzki in a lot of those situations--except for other times when Jason Terry seems to intentionally keep it from him in what appears to be a broken play. Terry hit his game-saver at the end of the first overtime last night while eluding not just his defender Nash, but also his teammate Nowitzki, who was apparently hoping to pick and roll.”

Last night Nowitzki was a zombie in the first 3 quarters before eventually getting hot and hitting some big shots down the stretch. However, it was Terry who was attacking the rim, pumping up the crowd, chest bumping his teammates, and trying to light a fire under a sleeping Dallas team, Josh Howard excluded. These next 3 months will go a long way in determining Nowitzki’s legacy.

- I love the fact that Tommy must downplay the skills of opponents. For example he repeatedly discredited Josh Howard’s offensive contributions because the Celtics were focused on Nowitzki.

- Brian Scalabrine was not with the team. Rather he was home, as his wife was due to give birth. This meant that Leon Powe got some time. And he acquitted himself just fine. In fact outside of Veal’s sporadic 3-point shooting I’m not sure why Powe does not get more minutes. And Bassy played well in the first half too.

- Kendrick Perkins is quietly putting together some stretches of good basketball. He’s grabbing boards, making outlet passes, defending, finishing well, and even throwing some good passes. He could be a great back up center, provided the starter is not someone like Michael Olowokandi.

- Paul Pierce came out smoking in the first half, scoring 19 points, and conjuring up images of a healthy Truth. He did not quite get into the groove again but did finish with 29. Nights like these make Celtics fans think, “Okay a healthy Pierce, a healthy Perk, Big Al keeps developing, high draft pick, Tony Allen bounces back, maybe a trade…”

- Mike Felger is growing out the beard, mocking the comments on Curt Schilling’s blog, going out of his way to badmouth Boston College basketball, bringing a whole new level of snarkiness to FSN, and essentially doing his best to fill the Ron Borges void. Good for you Felger. It was either you or Andy Gresh.

- I’m a fan of the new Red Auerbach gear, particularly the t-shirts the team wears on the bench during games, which by the way are already sold out. Imagine if the Celtics were good and all the bandwagon people were on board?


- Ultimately I do not know how to feel about last night’s game. The C’s played hard, made some things happen, and simply did not have an answer for Nowitzki down the stretch. There is no shame in that. Furthermore, in the final 6 minutes Boston refused to quit, erasing a couple of 6-point deficits in the process. However, Dallas did not exactly kill itself.

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