nba musings

These silly season rumors are giving me fits. It seemed like the very minute game 7 finished and the Celtics went fishing in Dingle, Ireland, people started speculating about who isn’t going to be back next year. Thoughts immediately flashed through my brain. Will they keep Leon or Big Baby? The answer is clear, simple and finite. Leon stays! Baby can go. I’ll miss him, but not as much as I’d miss Leon. This is not Sophie’s Choice for me. The decision is clear. After that, I pondered how quickly they’d tell Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury not to let the door hit them in the ass on the way out. No problem with that. The rookies? Haven’t gotten attached to them. They can go too. However, there were certain players that I just assumed were untouchable. Never for a moment did I think I might have to brace myself for life without Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo or Kendrick Perkins. I think I could almost handle losing Ray. As much as I love him, I probably wouldn’t go into mourning if they felt like they had to trade him. But, the idea of trading either Perk or Rondo is just completely unbelievable to me. Rondo is a star. He has a lot to learn still, but he’s a star. And, what can you say about Kendrick Perkins? He’s the most underrated player on that whole team. Trading Rondo and Perk, in my opinion would be as ridiculous as trading KG and Paul Pierce. I will NOT part with any of them. You hear me, Wyc?!

Here is what I’ll agree to part with:

ps. Keep your grubby little mitts of Scal! I will NOT part with Scal either! Get back! *jabbing the air with a pitchfork*

1. Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has been making the interviews rounds for head coaching opportunities with Philly and Sactown. Good luck, Tom!
2. The Globe’s Marc Spears reports that KG will have surgery on his right knee sometime next week.
3. Stephon Marbury on his future with the Celtics: “I mean I love it here, I loved playing basketball here. That’s where I am right now… I don’t know what my future holds. I”m just going to wait and see what the future holds.”
4. Big Baby on his future with the Celtics: “I love Boston. It’s a wonderful place. But if the opportunity is here, it’s here. If it’s somewhere else, it’s somewhere else. I have to go where the opportunity is.”
5. In April, Leon Powe received that month’s NBA Community Assist award. As the April NBA Community Assist Award recipient, Powe will receive the David Robinson Plaque with the inscription, “Following the standard set by NBA Legend David Robinson who improved the community piece by piece.”
6. Doc recently revealed that the Celtics starters were even more banged up than we thought. Perk/shoulder, Ray/hamstring, Paul/knee. Thankfully fishing doesn’t require any of those body parts to be fully functional.
7. Sam Cassell has been hired as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards. Congrats Sam!

Playoffs Game 2
Celtics v. Magic 112-94

The Good

• Eddie House scored a career playoff high of 31 points.
• Rajon Rondo earned another triple double (15 pts, 18 assts, 11 rebs) and threw down a pretty nifty slam dunk to boot.
• Doc Rivers had high praise for Brian Scalabrine after the game and said that he was surprised Scal was even able to come back this soon. This quote from Scal is one of the reasons I love him: “The funny thing, everyone else has problems with how much playing time I’ve gotten here except me,” said Scalabrine. “Even my mother will say, ’How come you’re not playing more?’ I tell everyone the same thing. I’m happy to be here. I’m happy being a Boston Celtic … I’m happy being a winner.”

The Bad

• Paul Pierce was in foul trouble and only played 15 mins. and only scored 3 points. (The upside: Lots of needed rest for the captain!)
• Rafer Alston felt an imaginary elbow and decided it would be a good idea to slap Eddie House in the back of the head (he’s suspended for Game 3).

The Ugly

• J.J. Redick fouled out and then thought it would be a good idea to go bitch about it to Bennett Salvatore, thus getting himself ejected from the game.

Related news:

• Celtics Hub: Without Pierce, C’s Get Back to Basics
• Red’s Army: That’s More Like It | Rafer vs Eddie
• CelticsBlog: Wow… Just Wow
• TalkHoops.net: 2009 NBA Playoffs: Celtics-Magic Game 2 Recap

I just ordered this t-shirt:

If you want to support The Truth (aka Paul Pierce), check out the official playoff store of paulpierce.net.

Playoffs Game 5
Celtics v. Bulls 106-104

I don’t know about the Celtics, but this first round is exhausting… for me. I’m so tired. Lol. These close games that end in OT or double OT are killing me slowly with a dull rusty dinner fork. I believe I’ve already stated that I hate close games when it comes to my team. Since I’m mentally and physically exhausted (staying up half the night watching heart attack basketball and then getting up at 6:30am for the day job will do that to a person), I’m going to just post my thoughts in a free form (possibly non-coherent) bullet point list.

• Paul looked awful until the end of the game. He was missing in action on offense and defense. The comeback was great and he continues to prove he’s one of the most clutch guys in the game, but I just wish he hadn’t taken so long to get it going.
• I think Ray got some of Perk’s calls. Perk got ZERO fouls and Ray Allen fouled out. Something is rotten in Denmark. My theory is that they just gave Perk’s calls to Ray. (Haha.)
• Steph. Shoot the ball. Shoot it. It’s what you do. How can you not do it? Do it. Shoot it. Sigh.
• After the game, Doc told reporters that Tony Allen’s play during the game was… *drumroll* Phenomenal. No, not a typo. Phenomenal. *shaking head*
• I hate to admit it, but our bench is weak sauce. I love them, I really do, but they aren’t stepping up.
• Rondo continues to be a fan-freaking-tastic stat machine and thank the good lord allmighty for that.
• I’ve wanted to fist fight several website commenters and Twitter tweeters (tweeps? Ugh, Twitter lingo is so stupid) in the last week. Ah yes, the NBA playoffs are here. I’m trying to remind myself that close games with questionable calls (on both sides) bring out the irrational in people (including me). Howeva *nod to Stephen A.*, to the person/people who insist that Rondo PUNCHED Brad Miller… Settle down, Skippy. Was it flagrant? Possibly. Did the Bulls get hosed a little bit by the non-call? Possibly. Did he recklessly lay a hard foul on Brad Miller? Definitely. But, he DID NOT punch him. That’s ridiculous. I don’t care how many camera angles you viewed that play from. There was no punch. I might bleed green, but I’m not unreasonable. If it was a punch, I’d admit it. [I'll concede it was a bitch-slap. ]
• Why do NBA fans who don’t root for the Celtics have such a problem with KG yelling profanity and heckling the other team’s players from the bench? Big deal. I can understand the poor bastards that have to listen to it complaining, but I don’t understand viewers at home getting all up in arms about it. I think this is just KG’s way of contributing. He can’t play, so he’s harrassing the other team’s players to try and throw them off their game. Obnoxious yes, but not a felony.

I have a lot more on my mind, but this post is already long enough. I’ll zip it and go back to watching tonight’s MIA/ATL game. This one has been pretty chippy dippy. Players were shoved. Technicals were assessed. Flagrants were erroneously called. Ah yes, good times, good times.

Related news:

• CelticsBlog: KG: Not Winning Any Sportsmanship Awards
• Red’s Army: The Last Word On Officials
• Celtics Hub: A Word on Flagrant Fouls
• Celtics 17: Late Game Recap, Early Game Preview
• Both Teams Played Hard: Brad Miller Is Dead…On the Inside
• NBA Noise: Elbows, face slaps, fines, fouls and suspensions

Playoffs Game 4

Celtics @ Bulls 118-121 2OT

Dear Ben Gordon,

I realize hitting a game tying 3-pointer is kind of a big deal. I mean clearly that one that you hit was the first one anyone has hit in the playoffs so far… Oh, it wasn’t? Well, certainly then it must be the first one that has been hit in this Celtics-Bulls series, right? No? Oh, well certainly it must at least be the first big important 3-pointer that was hit in that particular game though, right? Oh, it…? Uh…. Wasn’t? Oh. Well, don’t let that make you feel stupid, Ben. Who can blame you, after all? Kobe has the “pull jersey aside & expose nipple” trick, Paul Pierce has perfected the “jersey pop”, KG has the primal “motherf–ker” scream, you needed something to call your own right? Sure, yours is biting a little bit on Sam Cassell’s patented “big balls” dance, but he’s retired, right? Looks like you’re good to go. Maybe next time though, be a little gentler with the goods. It’s not worth straining a hammy over.

Love,

me

ps. You think you have balls? Your balls are teeny tiny compared to this guy! Jacoby mother freaking Ellsbury! He stole HOME BASE from third! Who does that?

That game was brutal. Just excruciating to watch. Yes yes, I know it was an “instant classic” and certainly better entertainment than watching the Cavs take a big wiz on the Pistons (who were clearly ready to go sip mai tais on some tropical island), but I hated it. The only time I enjoy games like that is when other teams are playing in them. All I want to see for my Celtics is 20-point blowouts, every single night. Unrealistic? Perhaps, but I don’t care. League-wide domination will always be my one and only goal for this team. Poor entertainment quality be damned. I want Gino, Gino and more Gino! Anyway, so I guess we’re all locked at 2-2. My team looks tired. I hope they get some rest and then bring the defense from here on out. Let’s think game 3 and make the rest of the games one-sided, ok boys? Ok, then.

Related news:

• Yahoo! Sports: Ellsbury steals home, Red Sox sweep Yankees
• Deadspin: A Ball-Grabbing Good Time At The United Center
• Slam Online: Celtics/Bulls Game 4 Recap
• Red’s Army: Next Big Injury: Ben Gordon’s Hammy?
• CelticsBlog: Sometimes, Classics Go the Wrong Way
• Celtics 17: Celtics-Bulls Game 4 Recap
• Celtics Hub: Have you seen me?

Playoffs Game 3
Celtics @ Bulls 107-86

I was so not expecting the game that I saw tonight. I figured either Rose/Gordon would go off offensively or Thomas/Noah would throw another block party and it would be another close game. How wrong I was. This was a blowout and got away from the Bulls quickly and they never recovered. The arena was sold out with Bulls fans all wearing red t-shirts and mid-way through the game they were booing. By the 2nd half, they were leaving. The Celtics were fantastic on defense. They haven’t been this good on defense since KG was playing. It was superb. I can’t wax philosophically about it enough. When they make up their minds, collectively, to do everything they need to do to wind up with that ball, they’re unstoppable. This was without KG and Leon too. Awesome. I can’t imagine the next game will be this easy, so we’ll see how the series pans out, but either way, I’m really proud of the way the team stepped up tonight, on the road, and got the convincing win.

Studs of the game: Pierce (24 Pts), Rondo (20 Pts, 11 Reb, 6 Ast), Big Baby (14 Pts, 8 Reb, 6 Ast), the entire team’s defense

Quote of the night: Rondo, post-game: “We played our A game tonight, on defense.”

Tidbits: Steph got hammered and needed an awkward arrangement of bandages on his head/face. Rondo’s feet hurt after the game and Bill Walker carried him off the court. According to @talkhoops, someone stole the headband off Walker’s head (what the hell does someone do with a sweaty Bill Walker headband?). In the post-game presser, Doc joked that he thought Big Baby stepped on Rondo’s foot “…and we all know what that would do.” Fat jokes, Doc? Tsk tsk.

Not to be a buzzkill, but I’d be remiss to not mention on this blog that my heart goes out to Leon Powe. It’s no secret that he’s my favorite player on the team, so of course this one hits me especially hard. For those not following the Celtics, Powe is out for the season (and longer) with a torn ACL. The same knee he’s previously already had surgically repaired. It is going to be a tough road trying to come back from this. Adding to the problem is the fact that he’s a free agent after this season. Do the Celtics tender him, wait and sign him if he recovers? I sure hope so. Everyone’s heard the stories about what a great guy Leon is so I won’t rehash it… I’ll just say that I hope and pray that he recovers as quickly as possible to resume his promising career. Come back soon Leon!

ps. Can I complain about Tyrus Thomas for a minute? For all of his talent — and he is extremely talented — he’s so frustratingly immature. As P. Diddy would call it, he has a lot of bitchassness.

Related news:

• CelticsBlog: The Truth Is, I Told You So
• Red’s Army: Crashing Down to Earth
• Celtics Hub: “My Feet Hurt. That’s All”
• Boston.com: Celtics, 107-86
• WEEI: Five Things We Learned: Paul Is Not Dead

Where to start? I’m going to start off by admitting that I have finally taken off my derrick rose colored glasses… we’re in big trouble. I was alarmed when Leon Powe appeared to injure himself (which turned out to be a season ending torn ACL injury) and went back into the locker room, but I went into full on panic mode when Rondo went down, threw the remote control (my specialty) and started rocking back and forth in the fetal position. Lol. I hate to give up or even hint that I might be giving up, but this is going to be a mammoth undertaking trying to get just to the ECF.

I prefer to focus on the positive though, so on the upside, how about that triple double (19 Pts, 12 Reb, 16 Ast ) for Rondo? On a sprained ankle! He’s a rockstar. Nice to see Ray Allen snap out of his funk too. I had no doubt that he would but sometimes it takes a game or two for him to get his shot back and this time he got it back right away. Thank goodness for that because we needed him desperately. We need everyone desperately, that’s the problem. The bench is killing me. I hate to bag on them, because I really do love them, but watching them last night was painful. You might be wondering how I could even hint that I love Stephon Marbury when I was comparing him to Terrell Owens and Manny Ramirez not very long ago… Well, honestly I think I’d cheer for Beelzebub if he suited up for the Celtics in jersey number triple 6. That’s how much I love this team. (Did I just compare Steph to Beelzebub? Sorry Steph.) It was also painful watching KG watch these games. I think it’s quite literally killing him to sit on the sidelines. How about that game winning 3-pointer though? Those never get old. KG’s reaction was priceless.

Related news: Red’s Army: Powe Done For Season | New Public Enemy #1, CelticsBlog: No Mo Powe | The Smoothest Strikes Again, Celtics 17: An Open Letter To Danny Ainge, The No-Look Pass: Call Me Crazy… But This Is Game of the Year

In general NBA news, congrats are in order for Mike Brown (COY) and Dwight Howard (DPOY). I would’ve picked Stan Van Gundy and Dwyane Wade, but you can’t really knock those picks either. I would’ve liked to have seen the Magic play the Bulls in this opening round if for no other reason but to try and see Joakim Noah’s fuzzy ponytail & TyTh take on Dwight. That would be something.

Also, I’ve done some soul searching and I think I’ve come to terms with my recent Cavaliers hatred. I’m jealous. They’re us… last year. And I’m bitter. I think though, if it does end up being the Cavs and Lakers in the finals that the Lakers have a better chance to win. The Cavs are deeper at Lebron and Mo’s positions but the Lakers have the edge everywhere else. The Lakers are going to be playing the tough guy role that the Celtics played last season and I’m not sure the Cavs will be able to respond. Lebron is all kinds of amazing, I’m not questioning his ability to take over the game and home court does definitely help them immensely, but I don’t think it will be enough. So, if the finals ends up being the matchup we all think it will be, my money will be on the Lakers… but I won’t be rooting against the Cavs. Or the Lakers. I’ll have no horse in that race, I’ll just be sitting back like everyone else and enjoying the show.

Shortly after Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) joined Twitter and gained a gaggle of followers, I noticed that people were also starting to follow/@ reply/re-tweet accounts purporting to belong to Stephon Marbury (@starburymarbury) and Leon Powe. I’m always skeptical about new NBA players appearing on Twitter and like to get some kind of confirmation before I get excited about it and start following them. I was semi-convinced that the Marbury account was legit when I saw that he registered his Twitter account in the wefollow.com directory under the tags #nba, #entrepreneur and #celebrity. Something about that just rang true to me. A faker probably wouldn’t have bothered to register, but if they did, I think they would’ve picked something more like #nba, #celtics and #basketball. No offense to him, but I feel like only Steph himself would choose #celebrity.

From the get-go though, the @LeonPowe account didn’t smell right. I asked a few people and nobody knew and then Marbury responded to an @ reply that he’d ask him personally at shoot-around. Before I had a chance to ask him again today about it, I saw this article from WEEI.com. It definitely leaves no doubt as to the legitimacy of the account.

Excerpt from: WEEI.com > To Tweet or Not to Tweet by Jessica Camerato

For every player who has a legitimate account, there are even more whose identity is falsified. Take Leon Powe: According to Twitter, he has more than 300 followers who he keeps updated on his knee injury and even the weather. But as it turns out, Powe didn’t even know what Twitter was, let alone manage a profile.

“I don’t even mess with the computers like that. If I did, it would be cool, but nobody has come to me and talked to me about anything like that,” he said, adding, “I think being an athlete, it could be a positive but sometimes it could be a negative, too. Being an athlete, you’re always out there and people are always going to find stories and find what you did eight years ago. So it’s basically the same thing.”

Powe is in favor of using Twitter for a good cause, such as giving away tickets as Pierce does. But it feels invasive to him when people know the miniscule details of his daily life.

“That’s weird to me,” he said. “I don’t do that. I don’t do that. I think that’s weird, but that’s just me. I wouldn’t do it like that. But some players probably like doing that stuff. It’s based on what you like.”

So you can follow @LeonPowe if you want, maybe he/she is a great person… but just keep in mind that it isn’t the real Leon Powe. The real Leon Powe thinks it’s weird.

Disclaimer: The following blog post is self-indulgent and whiny.

Twitter is really hitting its hayday. I joined Twitter a couple of years ago on a recommendation from a friend. I followed all of her Nascar friends and then set out to find Boston sports related peeps. Slowly but surely more and more NBA related tweeps joined up and before long I had a really sweet Twitter stream. At some point in the not-so-distant past, Shaq, Capitol Hill and Ashton Kutcher joined. Then recently, mainstream media started covering it as “the new cool thing” and pretty much everyone and their mother is arriving on Twitter like it’s Ellis Island.

This past Saturday, this all culminated in the coolest person yet joining Twitter… Paul “The mother f-in Truth” Pierce. I was skeptical at first, but various people with more inside cred than I’ll ever have were saying it was true, so I decided to believe it and follow him. I was surprised to see him there, quite frankly. Ever since Shaq joined and became so prolific (along with the rest of the Suns organization, including the kitchen sink, who probably has a Twitter account too called @PhxSuns_KitchenSink), I wondered if I’d ever see anyone from the Celtics. I didn’t really think I would. I had seen Big Baby blog for about a minute and a half his rookie season and then quit to focus on the game… and I had also seen Rondo’s Yardbarker blog with its intermittent posting frequency and figured that again, another Celtic was too busy focusing on games to really contribute much to online media. So, I was pretty surprised to see that there was finally a Celtics player, a star no less, representing the Cs on Twitter.

Well, this past Sunday, PP (@paulpierce34) took a page from the Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) handbook and tweeted about giving away game tix to the first 5 people to reach him in the players lot at a certain time wearing his jersey. I knew if it was in fact, the real Pierce, that this offer was legit and it absolutely killed me. I’d been on Twitter during all of Shaq’s spur of the moment, “I’m on xyz corner, first person to reach me” tweets and had always thought, “Man, I wish I lived in Phoenix and could go try for those tix.” But, since it was so far away and not really my team, it really wasn’t too upsetting to not be able to participate. But, this time was different. This was an opportunity to see one of my players and my team and I still couldn’t go. I live too far away from the Garden to just “show up” there before a game. If I lived closer, I can guarantee you I would’ve been camped out in that players lot for hours waiting from him to roll up. Instead, I was at home. On Twitter. Bitter. Yes, bitter on Twitter. I’m a poet. And I know it.

Anyway… It didn’t help at all to get on Twitter this morning from work and read all about how PP followed up on his word and gave 5 fans free tix to watch the game in his personal suite. Dagger in my heart. I think the answer to my woes is clear though. I need to move to the player’s lot outside the Garden. Buy a big ole station wagon, park it there… and wait.

Related links:

• BostonCS: Paul Pierce Gives Away Celtics Tickets Via Twitter
• Deadspin: Paul Pierce Now Inviting Strangers To Harass Him On The Street
• Twitter: paulpierce34 profile