C's/Warriors - 12/20/06

I made my first trip of the season to the TD Banknorth Garden last night. Unfortunately the four people I went with did not care about the game and the Celtics lost. On the plus side I enjoyed the atmosphere and did not have to get up for food thanks to the aforementioned non-basketball fans.

Celtics Notes:

- Last night was the type of game where the Celtics missed Wally Szczerbiak. They needed someone outside of Paul Pierce who could consistently hit outside shots.

- Speaking of Pierce. He was awesome in the first quarter. Good things happen when Pierce does not force things and does not have to kill himself to get his shots. If he didn’t botch the final play so badly and managed to hit a game winner it would have been a fantastic night all around for #34. Alas.

- I still like Leon Powe and Gerald Green but have a few concerns. I’m not calling into question their futures, rather their current games. Powe has a limited offensive arsenal. He did draw a couple of fouls but is not a huge threat to finish down low and was caught pushing off as well. Meanwhile Green seems to drift at times. I’m not sure he knows how to make things happen quite yet.

- I caught a newscast in the bar before the game along the lines of “Finally Al Jefferson delivers on his promise.” The guy is 21 years old in his third NBA season. He going to be a source of excitement and at times disappointment throughout the season. But Jefferson is headed in the right direction and should be the least of the C’s concerns. Although those missed free throws down the stretch were killer. For the record 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots are now disappointing. He’s come a long way.

- I was listening to Michael Holley on the radio this morning and he was questioning Doc’s decision to cover Baron Davis (31 points, 8 assists) with Sebastian Telfair all evening. Apparently this drove Tommy Heinsohn nuts too. It was too easy for Davis. Holley contends that A) Doc should have thrown Tony Allen or even Gerald Green at him in the hopes of making Baron work for his shot and B) when people get upset with Doc incidents like these give them a legitimate case. As Holley points out the C’s have struggled with point guard defense all year. Chris Paul, Jameer Nelson and Chauncey Billups are three guys that come to mind when I think of point guards who have had their way against Boston.

- It is never good to lose to the NBA’s worst road team at home.

- I was shocked to see the C’s earn, by my count, 4 defensive three seconds calls. I was under the impression that this was called once or twice early and then everyone forgets about it. Regardless those possessions at the very least took a lot out of the crowd and perhaps the team.

- I thought Delonte West did a great job pushing the ball and putting some pressure on the Warriors. Unfortunately he was 4-12 from the field. On a side note someone definitely took the airbrush to the Delonte on my ticket.

- I was a little concerned that the crowd was loudest when Lucky and the Celtics’ dancers gave away free t-shirts. Thankfully the place was rocking over the final 4 minutes.

- There was one Celtics dancer who was noticeably taller than the other girls. Just throwing it out there. I also enjoyed the smattering of boos the squad got before their first routine, which set the tone for the whole evening; lots of cleavage and to put it nicely, suggestive.

- I stuck with my balcony seat all evening even though there were a fair number of open seats down below. There also seemed to be a lot of people down there who didn’t care that much about basketball but had more than $20 to give to sketchy guys on the street.

Warriors Notes:

- Of all the Warriors, outside of Davis, Matt Barnes was the most impressive. He made plays and forced the action on numerous occasions. I got the feeling that Golden State will get a lot more out of Barnes and Andris Biedrins someday.

- That was the first Warriors game I have caught all year and overall Mike Dunleavy did not impress me. His numbers were okay (10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals) but he missed some shots down the stretch. He also bitched out teammates on a few occasions and seemed to whine throughout the game.

- Not a lot of Monta Ellis (just under 6 minutes) last night.

- I thought Tony Allen did more Jason Richardson type things, one put back dunk in particular comes to mind, than Jason Richardson.

- Finally I imagine Baron Davis fans must find his game a little bittersweet. Clearly he can still get it done, as he did last night. And I did not see him forcing it too much or ignoring his teammates. Also he is currently the guy who can make a big shot when the Warriors need it. But all the injuries, particularly to the knees, have robbed him of a great deal of his explosiveness. The guy used to get up…big time.

Miscellaneous Notes:

- There are a lot of distractions at Celtics games – t shirts shot into the crowd, dancers, shooting competitions and of course all of the jumbotron stuff. And most of it is useless. However, the clip from Hoosiers and Paul Pierce calling for a “Let’s go Celtics,” chant in memory of Red Auerbach (from opening night) were awesome.

- At halftime a team of boys played a team of girls. It was a tie game but the girl’s squad seemed a bit older. Still the guys blew it.

- My favorite jerseys worn by other fans last night:

#5 – Michael Jordan’s Bulls jersey with the “Chicago” in cursive.
#4 – Paul Pierce’s Kansas jersey – Only because no one had his Inglewood jersey.
#3 – Bill Russell’s Celtics jersey – Classic.
#2 – Larry Bird’s Celtics jersey – There should always be someone wearing it.
#1 – Russell’s University of San Francisco jersey. – Very cool.

Final Analysis

- These are the type of games that keep the C’s from making the leap from a mediocre team to a good one. That said I enjoyed the game and remained hooked on this team.