celtics afterthoughts: scal’s face gets in dirk’s way

Posted on | February 2, 2009 | Comments

I’m on a brief hiatus because my pug is in the hospital recovering from back surgery. I’ll recap some recent games briefly. Celtics beat Timberwolves despite late run by Minny. Celtics beat Pistons because Joe Dumars decided it would be a good idea to fire the coach who got them to multiple finals and then trade away the team’s leader and go-to guy. Celtics beat Mavs because Eddie was BURNING THE MF-ing HOUSE DOWN! That’s about it. We’re on another streak. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Well, not you Phelps.

Celtics v. Mavericks 124-100

This game was over about 10 minutes into the 1st quarter. I don’t have a great basketball mind by any stretch of the imagination, but from my pedestrian observation it would appear that some trades made in the past year or so have turned out to suck major monkeyballs. The Mavs, Suns and Pistons have all gone from above average teams to below average and it’s a peculiar sight to see. I’ve only been watching the NBA in earnest for a few years, so all I have to base my assessments on is 2006 to the present. When I first started watching games and really paying attention, Steve Nash was one of the best players in the league, the Pistons were a threat to win against every team they played and the Mavs had the best record in the league. The Lakers & Celtics were both bad. The Lakers were Pacers-bad and the Celtics were Clippers-bad. My how the worm has turned.

Thoughts on the game:

Where’s Leon? He’s in purgatory it seems. I miss yelling “Money in the Bank!”
Tony Allen is the opposite of Paul Pierce when it comes to pain tolerance. Infer what you will. [1/28 - Update: Ok, I take it back for now. He's in tonight's game and is playing with an awesome aggression that I didn't think he had. I'll shut my piehole for the time being.]
Dirk gave Scal a concussion with some swinging German elbows and Scal got called for the foul. That hardly seems fair. [Apparently, Scal got a second concussion from a play involving Patrick O'Bryant in practice, so he'll be out for at least a week. Shamefully, I will admit that my first thought was, "More Leon!" Sorry, Scal.]