duncan228
03-20-2008, 08:05 AM
I put this here because of the Spurs game breakdown.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=388897
Celtics making believers with each win
I am starting to see green. I wish I could say this was because spring is arriving in St. Louis, but no. Nothing but cold, gray days here. The green I am seeing is in the Celtics. I am not seeing as much as Tim Duncan saw every time he put the ball on the floor Monday night, but I am seeing great amounts of green. I am beginning to believe I will be watching these guys in green throughout the spring.
This, mind you, is coming from someone who has been saying since December that the Pistons are better than the Celtics. I'm not quite ready to jump off the Pistons' bandwagon but I'm hanging on with an arm and a leg. No matter what the Celtics do Thursday night at Dallas, after winning a back-to-back at San Antonio and Houston this week, they will be No. 1 when the Sporting News' power poll comes out on Friday.
You've seen the numbers: The Celtics have the best record in the league by five games and are on pace for 66 wins. They lead in the most meaningful defensive stats: opponents' FG percentage, opponents' 3-point percentage and fewest points allowed. They are the only team with an average margin of victory of more than 10 points.
Impressive, indeed. More impressive, though, is watching the Celtics play defense. Let's look at two stretches, one against the Spurs and the other against the Rockets.
The Spurs -- who were up by 22 in the first half -- led by 9 with about 5 minutes to go before they were outscored 21-10. In their final 12 possessions, the Spurs scored five times -- very respectable -- but they were pressured and harassed at every turn. Nearly every possession went down to the final seconds on the 24-second clock (They would have been better off going uptempo instead of walking the ball up court).
During the decisive stretch, Manu Ginobili scored one bucket after he slipped around one defender and banked in an acrobatic, running 15-footer between two others. Tim Duncan scored after Tony Parker danced into the lane, found himself double-teamed under the basket yet still was able to find Duncan, who put in a tough lefthanded jump hook. The third basket came on a Parker layup with only a couple of seconds left and the Spurs up by four.
On the other possessions, nothing:
The Celtics forced Parker into a travel.
They intercepted a Parker pass.
They knocked the ball loose from a driving Ginobili in the lane. Reaching and slapping at the ball, scouts say, is a Celtics' specialty this season.
They forced Ime Udoka into a tough 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer.
Pierce took a charge from Udoka, who faked a 3-pointer before driving toward the lane.
Parker missed badly on a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down.
Ginobili missed a long 3-pointer with Posey backing off him. It was about the closest thing the Spurs had to an open shot in the fourth quarter and Ginobili had to go 25 feet out to get it.
Against the Yao-less Rockets, the Celtics broke open a 40-40 halftime tie by outscoring Houston 32-16 in the third quarter -- one of three quarters during which the Warriors kept the Rockets from scoring 20 points. Impressive for a couple of reasons: It ended the second-longest winning streak in history and came on the second night of one of the toughest back-to-backs in the league.
The Celtics exploited the Rockets by turning McGrady into a passer. He was held to 8 points on 4-for-11 shooting as the Celtics double-teamed him every time he put the ball on the floor. The Celtics used a variety of defenders on McGrady, with Kendrick Perkins as the main double-teamer since he was defending Dikembe Mutombo and the Rockets' centers.
The other Rockets -- who thrive on spot-up 3-pointers -- managed to make only 5-of-18 against the Celtics.
"I've never seen defense like that," McGrady told reporters. "That was defense at its finest."
Played by the finest team going.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=388897
Celtics making believers with each win
I am starting to see green. I wish I could say this was because spring is arriving in St. Louis, but no. Nothing but cold, gray days here. The green I am seeing is in the Celtics. I am not seeing as much as Tim Duncan saw every time he put the ball on the floor Monday night, but I am seeing great amounts of green. I am beginning to believe I will be watching these guys in green throughout the spring.
This, mind you, is coming from someone who has been saying since December that the Pistons are better than the Celtics. I'm not quite ready to jump off the Pistons' bandwagon but I'm hanging on with an arm and a leg. No matter what the Celtics do Thursday night at Dallas, after winning a back-to-back at San Antonio and Houston this week, they will be No. 1 when the Sporting News' power poll comes out on Friday.
You've seen the numbers: The Celtics have the best record in the league by five games and are on pace for 66 wins. They lead in the most meaningful defensive stats: opponents' FG percentage, opponents' 3-point percentage and fewest points allowed. They are the only team with an average margin of victory of more than 10 points.
Impressive, indeed. More impressive, though, is watching the Celtics play defense. Let's look at two stretches, one against the Spurs and the other against the Rockets.
The Spurs -- who were up by 22 in the first half -- led by 9 with about 5 minutes to go before they were outscored 21-10. In their final 12 possessions, the Spurs scored five times -- very respectable -- but they were pressured and harassed at every turn. Nearly every possession went down to the final seconds on the 24-second clock (They would have been better off going uptempo instead of walking the ball up court).
During the decisive stretch, Manu Ginobili scored one bucket after he slipped around one defender and banked in an acrobatic, running 15-footer between two others. Tim Duncan scored after Tony Parker danced into the lane, found himself double-teamed under the basket yet still was able to find Duncan, who put in a tough lefthanded jump hook. The third basket came on a Parker layup with only a couple of seconds left and the Spurs up by four.
On the other possessions, nothing:
The Celtics forced Parker into a travel.
They intercepted a Parker pass.
They knocked the ball loose from a driving Ginobili in the lane. Reaching and slapping at the ball, scouts say, is a Celtics' specialty this season.
They forced Ime Udoka into a tough 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer.
Pierce took a charge from Udoka, who faked a 3-pointer before driving toward the lane.
Parker missed badly on a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down.
Ginobili missed a long 3-pointer with Posey backing off him. It was about the closest thing the Spurs had to an open shot in the fourth quarter and Ginobili had to go 25 feet out to get it.
Against the Yao-less Rockets, the Celtics broke open a 40-40 halftime tie by outscoring Houston 32-16 in the third quarter -- one of three quarters during which the Warriors kept the Rockets from scoring 20 points. Impressive for a couple of reasons: It ended the second-longest winning streak in history and came on the second night of one of the toughest back-to-backs in the league.
The Celtics exploited the Rockets by turning McGrady into a passer. He was held to 8 points on 4-for-11 shooting as the Celtics double-teamed him every time he put the ball on the floor. The Celtics used a variety of defenders on McGrady, with Kendrick Perkins as the main double-teamer since he was defending Dikembe Mutombo and the Rockets' centers.
The other Rockets -- who thrive on spot-up 3-pointers -- managed to make only 5-of-18 against the Celtics.
"I've never seen defense like that," McGrady told reporters. "That was defense at its finest."
Played by the finest team going.