What can you gather up about the Celtics playing style and identity?
We're the best team in the league, save for maybe the Spurs. The record and win margin tells it all. We blow out just about every team we play, but when it does boil down to the last seconds, we come through in the clutch. People say that Boston couldn't beat the 2 top teams in the EC. You have a strong case for Orlando, but not for Cleveland. Cleveland is not a top 3 team. They are 9-8, so you can't use Cleveland to say that we can't step up to the best teams. We hung tight against Orlando, who is insanely good, with everybody but Pierce and Rondo having awful games, so I don't see why everyone makes a big deal over that. Anyways, it shows how good we are when people make a big deal about 2 losses, one in OT and the other, a close game against one of the top teams in the league.
Anyways, onto playing style and identity, the Celtics are good at just about everything.
The defense is excellent. I really expected it since Garnett is an excellent way to start off your defense, with his ability to guard anyone, his shot blocking/changing and his tremendous stealing for a big man. Pierce is a good defender, contrary to popular belief. Though a little slow, he is a big body and is quite good at challenging shots. Perkins is a pretty good shotblocker. Rondo is a very good defender at the PG position. Ray Allen is the only weak defender in the starting lineup. Then you have Posey, a defensive specialist coming off the bench. An eye-popping stat is the steals. The team as a whole averaged 9.5, with Garnett, Pierce and Rondo all averaging 1.7 per game, Allen averaging 1.2 and House averaging 1.
The rebounding is excellent also. Just like our defense, our rebounding starts with Garnett. In addition to a top 5 rebounder in the league, you have a top rebounding SF in Pierce, Perkins, who is a huge body to box out, and an unusually good rebounding PG. The Celtics rebounding differential is crazy.
The offense is one of the best in the league. Scoring 102 points a game is quite good for anyone, let alone that the Celts play some of the best D in the league. This 102 is one good percentages also- 48% on FG's, 40% on 3's, and 76% on FT's. We've got all kinds of scoring, penetration from Rondo, Allen, and Pierce, 3's from House, Allen, Pierce and Posey, and postups and short drives to the bucket from Garnett and Pierce. The ball movement is superb, which shows when you look at all the assists. Pierce and Rondo both average 5 and Garnett and Allen both put up 4 a game.
The weaknesses I see in the Celts are turnovers and weak starts. 16 turnovers a game is unacceptable, even if you have 3 stars on the team. That is something that needs to stop. And weak starts have led to losses against Orlando and Cleveland. Those also need to stop.
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Current Celtics Roster:
PG- Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, Gabe Pruitt
SG- Ray Allen, Tony Allen, J.R. Giddens
SF- Paul Pierce, Bill Walker
PF- Kevin Garnett, Leon Powe, Brian Scalabrine
C- Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis, Patrick O'Bryant
Brand, get Jason Kidd first, then start talking about how the cavs are = to the celtics. Otherwise, little shot at beating the c's in a playoff series.
Tough for me to say any team with LeBron James has "little shot" at beating Boston. You just can't count them out.
__________________ "Paul Pierce is the (expletive) truth. Quote me on that and don't take nothing out. I knew he could play, but I didn't know he could play like this. Paul Pierce is the truth."
- Shaquille O'Neal
"Kirilenko's eyes started to tear in the locker room as he talked in a shaky voice about his frustrations and inability to stop Pierce. He played just four minutes in the final quarter because of his inept defense, but his small consolation was that none of his teammates could do any better."
- Salt Lake Tribune
"I think he is at a point in his career where he gets very distracted by having a hand in his face."
- Portland forward Buck Williams on Larry Bird, before Larry Legend dropped 49 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists in a double overtime win
Not with Jason Kidd. Our team is far superior to theirs. P-Dub, you can't be a total celtics fan. You seem to back the other teams too much in the time I been reading your posts.
Not with Jason Kidd. Our team is far superior to theirs. P-Dub, you can't be a total celtics fan. You seem to back the other teams too much in the time I been reading your posts.
15 games in...
. C's still unproven in the pathetic east.
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