MaNu4Tres
05-16-2010, 11:28 PM
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-celticshoward051610
For Celtics, defense never rests
By Adrian Wojnarowski
ORLANDO, Fla. – For 48 hours, the Boston Celtics studied the flickering images of Dwight Howard(notes) and that pitiful playoff footage left them as restless as it did resolved. For a frontline with such a nasty disposition, these sessions bordered on insulting. No one touched Howard – let alone hit him. No one met his blunt force with the brutality of Boston’s big, burly bodies.
“They let him do what he wanted to do to them,” Rasheed Wallace(notes) grumbled.
Dwight Howard had reason to be frustrated after committing seven turnovers in Game 1.
Those days are done for Howard in these Eastern Conference playoffs and that reality set a rugged tone for this best-of-seven series on Sunday. Together, these Celtics had come for Howard with downright dour dispositions. As Howard delighted himself with an embarrassing pregame dance and shake on the Magic bench, the Celtics had a good sweat going down the floor, a frontline of fighters waiting to go to work on the heavy bag.
This won’t be a Celtics series for the flash of Rajon Rondo(notes), but the ferocity of a frontline desperate to pound that pearly smile off Howard’s face. All together, Kendrick Perkins(notes), Big Baby Davis and Wallace took turns hitting Howard. They flustered him. They had him rushing his moves, missing makeable shots and causing such tumult in a 92-88 Game 1 victory over the Magic.
Ray Allen(notes) had 25 points. Paul Pierce(notes) had 22 points and a telltale nine rebounds. The Big Three is rolling again, Rajon Rondo is the MVP of these East playoffs, but the core identity of the 2008 championship Celtics has barreled back into these playoffs. Boston has restored its identity as one ferocious, physical team.
After dispatching the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games, the validation of Danny Ainge’s and Doc Rivers’ vision is simple to see. With an endless bench of physical big men, the Celtics were constructed to overtake the Magic in the East. This was the plan, and they watched it unfold perfectly in Game 1.
Once more, the Celtics inspire fear and loathing on the floor.
Once more, they’re championship contenders again.
“They’re relentless,” Orlando’s Vince Carter(notes) allowed.
So, Wallace had two big blue bottles of Bud Light in the upper corner of his locker on Sunday and a snarky greeting for Boston reporters about his hometown Philadelphia Flyers making a historic comeback on the Bruins. He didn’t come to Boston for political correctness, to make nice with the fans there. “The Broad Street Bullies,” he snarled, and then laughed and laughed and laughed.
Wallace came to Boston out of shape and out of line, and spent most of the season making the Celtics mostly regret they had ever signed him as a free agent. Yet, ’Sheed has responded in these playoffs with inspired play on both ends of the floor. He’s done it his way and everyone will just have to accept it. He takes such glee in frustrating one of the chosen young stars like Howard, because, well, that’s just him.
“What they’re trying to do is frustrate me and get into my head,” Howard said. “They want me to wrestle and fight with them. That takes me off my game.”
Howard had 13 points while missing seven of 10 shots. They kept him off the boards, allowing him just 12 rebounds. He turned the ball over seven times, from losing the ball in the post to throwing it away on kick-outs. Howard was a mess and the Magic never recovered to complete a frantic, late comeback in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics’ frontline beat on Howard, yes, but they don’t let him get angles and they don’t require the guards to come and double Howard for them. They just keep their chests into him and challenge Howard to beat them with a back-to-the-basket game he doesn’t have down nearly as well as his dance steps. This allows the Celtics to stay out on the perimeter and protect the 3-point line. Orlando missed 17 of 22 3-pointers and they’ll never beat the Celtics unless those shots start to drop for them.
“A lot of them jump shots, the buttholes get tight,” Wallace declared.
Glen Davis and the rest of the Celtics' big men made life difficult for Dwight Howard in Game 1 of the East finals.
He was talking about the playoffs, about the time of year that he lives for at his advanced age of 35. He doesn’t take particularly good care of his body, but his mind is forever sound for the playoffs. When the Celtics were constructing a 20-point lead in the third quarter, Wallace had Howard so flustered that he completely lost his composure, his mind.
Within 2½ minutes left in the third quarter, Wallace inspired Howard to get a double technical foul for tangling with him. Howard got a three seconds call because he was trying so hard to get into low-post position. Howard also tried to rush an offensive move on Wallace and got called for a travel. And, for good measure, Wallace completely crushed Howard across the arms when he had to give a foul.
“He did some old tricks that were just terrific,” Rivers said.
For months, Rivers’ faith was tested with Wallace. He piled up technical fouls and embarrassing performance after performance. People wanted Rivers to exile him, bury him, but the Celtics coach has that deft touch of walking the line between hard-line discipline and the understanding of player’s peculiarities.
“He said throughout, ‘Doesn’t matter what I do during the regular season, I will be judged for what I do in the playoffs,’ ” Rivers said. Doc Rivers had to laugh on Sunday night, and finally said, “I didn’t want him to take that literally throughout the season.”
He did, but so it goes. These Celtics are a joy to watch on the defensive end and Rivers deserves such praise for bringing everything together for the playoffs. In the regular season, Rivers was the target of criticism inside and outside the organization for practicing these Celtics so little. He never let bad games dictate his desire to get on the practice floor because he understood he had to keep these old legs as fresh as possible. However bad it looked some nights – and it did – Rivers had the discipline to see the longer picture, even if it meant watching a poorly prepared team on so many nights.
“We’re old,” Rivers said. “It’s tough to work on your defense when you don’t have a lot of practice. …[But] so far in the playoffs with the days off and the rest … it’s allowed us to prepare defensively. We had it in us. We were terrific out of the gates defensively [this season], but then we got away from it. We lost ourselves and now we’re finding ourselves again.”
Now, the Celtics’ defensive rotations are crisp and precise. They beat the Cavs to loose balls and long rebounds, and they did it to the well-rested Magic, too. So much of assistant coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive system is playing out perfectly for the Celtics, and this is hell for everyone left in these playoffs. From Kobe Bryant(notes) to LeBron James(notes) to Dwight Howard, this has been one of the league’s most lethal weapons these past two years. Now, the Big Three is back again, Rondo is a star and maybe most of all, these Celtics have restored a toughness and tenacity that they lost along the way.
All together, these Celtics watched all that tape of Dwight Howard and they couldn’t wait for Game 1 because they were going hit him harder and harder and hardest. Some of the Celtics watched his little dance before introductions and they knew one thing on Sunday: This beating was going to feel good.
For Celtics, defense never rests
By Adrian Wojnarowski
ORLANDO, Fla. – For 48 hours, the Boston Celtics studied the flickering images of Dwight Howard(notes) and that pitiful playoff footage left them as restless as it did resolved. For a frontline with such a nasty disposition, these sessions bordered on insulting. No one touched Howard – let alone hit him. No one met his blunt force with the brutality of Boston’s big, burly bodies.
“They let him do what he wanted to do to them,” Rasheed Wallace(notes) grumbled.
Dwight Howard had reason to be frustrated after committing seven turnovers in Game 1.
Those days are done for Howard in these Eastern Conference playoffs and that reality set a rugged tone for this best-of-seven series on Sunday. Together, these Celtics had come for Howard with downright dour dispositions. As Howard delighted himself with an embarrassing pregame dance and shake on the Magic bench, the Celtics had a good sweat going down the floor, a frontline of fighters waiting to go to work on the heavy bag.
This won’t be a Celtics series for the flash of Rajon Rondo(notes), but the ferocity of a frontline desperate to pound that pearly smile off Howard’s face. All together, Kendrick Perkins(notes), Big Baby Davis and Wallace took turns hitting Howard. They flustered him. They had him rushing his moves, missing makeable shots and causing such tumult in a 92-88 Game 1 victory over the Magic.
Ray Allen(notes) had 25 points. Paul Pierce(notes) had 22 points and a telltale nine rebounds. The Big Three is rolling again, Rajon Rondo is the MVP of these East playoffs, but the core identity of the 2008 championship Celtics has barreled back into these playoffs. Boston has restored its identity as one ferocious, physical team.
After dispatching the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games, the validation of Danny Ainge’s and Doc Rivers’ vision is simple to see. With an endless bench of physical big men, the Celtics were constructed to overtake the Magic in the East. This was the plan, and they watched it unfold perfectly in Game 1.
Once more, the Celtics inspire fear and loathing on the floor.
Once more, they’re championship contenders again.
“They’re relentless,” Orlando’s Vince Carter(notes) allowed.
So, Wallace had two big blue bottles of Bud Light in the upper corner of his locker on Sunday and a snarky greeting for Boston reporters about his hometown Philadelphia Flyers making a historic comeback on the Bruins. He didn’t come to Boston for political correctness, to make nice with the fans there. “The Broad Street Bullies,” he snarled, and then laughed and laughed and laughed.
Wallace came to Boston out of shape and out of line, and spent most of the season making the Celtics mostly regret they had ever signed him as a free agent. Yet, ’Sheed has responded in these playoffs with inspired play on both ends of the floor. He’s done it his way and everyone will just have to accept it. He takes such glee in frustrating one of the chosen young stars like Howard, because, well, that’s just him.
“What they’re trying to do is frustrate me and get into my head,” Howard said. “They want me to wrestle and fight with them. That takes me off my game.”
Howard had 13 points while missing seven of 10 shots. They kept him off the boards, allowing him just 12 rebounds. He turned the ball over seven times, from losing the ball in the post to throwing it away on kick-outs. Howard was a mess and the Magic never recovered to complete a frantic, late comeback in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics’ frontline beat on Howard, yes, but they don’t let him get angles and they don’t require the guards to come and double Howard for them. They just keep their chests into him and challenge Howard to beat them with a back-to-the-basket game he doesn’t have down nearly as well as his dance steps. This allows the Celtics to stay out on the perimeter and protect the 3-point line. Orlando missed 17 of 22 3-pointers and they’ll never beat the Celtics unless those shots start to drop for them.
“A lot of them jump shots, the buttholes get tight,” Wallace declared.
Glen Davis and the rest of the Celtics' big men made life difficult for Dwight Howard in Game 1 of the East finals.
He was talking about the playoffs, about the time of year that he lives for at his advanced age of 35. He doesn’t take particularly good care of his body, but his mind is forever sound for the playoffs. When the Celtics were constructing a 20-point lead in the third quarter, Wallace had Howard so flustered that he completely lost his composure, his mind.
Within 2½ minutes left in the third quarter, Wallace inspired Howard to get a double technical foul for tangling with him. Howard got a three seconds call because he was trying so hard to get into low-post position. Howard also tried to rush an offensive move on Wallace and got called for a travel. And, for good measure, Wallace completely crushed Howard across the arms when he had to give a foul.
“He did some old tricks that were just terrific,” Rivers said.
For months, Rivers’ faith was tested with Wallace. He piled up technical fouls and embarrassing performance after performance. People wanted Rivers to exile him, bury him, but the Celtics coach has that deft touch of walking the line between hard-line discipline and the understanding of player’s peculiarities.
“He said throughout, ‘Doesn’t matter what I do during the regular season, I will be judged for what I do in the playoffs,’ ” Rivers said. Doc Rivers had to laugh on Sunday night, and finally said, “I didn’t want him to take that literally throughout the season.”
He did, but so it goes. These Celtics are a joy to watch on the defensive end and Rivers deserves such praise for bringing everything together for the playoffs. In the regular season, Rivers was the target of criticism inside and outside the organization for practicing these Celtics so little. He never let bad games dictate his desire to get on the practice floor because he understood he had to keep these old legs as fresh as possible. However bad it looked some nights – and it did – Rivers had the discipline to see the longer picture, even if it meant watching a poorly prepared team on so many nights.
“We’re old,” Rivers said. “It’s tough to work on your defense when you don’t have a lot of practice. …[But] so far in the playoffs with the days off and the rest … it’s allowed us to prepare defensively. We had it in us. We were terrific out of the gates defensively [this season], but then we got away from it. We lost ourselves and now we’re finding ourselves again.”
Now, the Celtics’ defensive rotations are crisp and precise. They beat the Cavs to loose balls and long rebounds, and they did it to the well-rested Magic, too. So much of assistant coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive system is playing out perfectly for the Celtics, and this is hell for everyone left in these playoffs. From Kobe Bryant(notes) to LeBron James(notes) to Dwight Howard, this has been one of the league’s most lethal weapons these past two years. Now, the Big Three is back again, Rondo is a star and maybe most of all, these Celtics have restored a toughness and tenacity that they lost along the way.
All together, these Celtics watched all that tape of Dwight Howard and they couldn’t wait for Game 1 because they were going hit him harder and harder and hardest. Some of the Celtics watched his little dance before introductions and they knew one thing on Sunday: This beating was going to feel good.