Not That This Really Matters...

NBA All-Star reserves were announced today.  I've written a short verse to commemorate the occasion, enjoy:

All-Star reservers were handed out today with modest fanfare,

Kenny, EJ, C-Webb and GP were all there.

And while many dispute this or that choice or selection,

None could argue this studio crew could use a Barkley injection.

Way out West, there's tall white boys like Dirk and Pau, 

but sadly no love for the T'Wolves Big Al.  

(Despite 20 and 10 night in and night out,

he was snubbed 'cuz of his team's awful record, no doubt).

Brandon Roy is in and deservedly so, 

for without him the Blazers truly would blow.

(You know, like back in the dark ages of Miles and Z-Bo?)

There's also Parker, West, 

And Big Cactus Shaq.

Who's 36-year-old posterior left no room 

for 'Melo or Paul Millsap.  

The East's list of reserves include many who were worthy.

Take for instance, Danny Granger, 

who made the cut despite having to play with the likes of Troy Murphy.

Joe Johnson's the lone dirty bird,

And Chris Bosh is the only Canadian Dino.

While the Magic send Nelson and Lewis, but no Hedo.

Paul Pierce and Devin Harris round out the lot,

Although if you ask me, 

I'd say Ray Allen and Mo Williams deserved their spots.

But such is life in the National Basketball Association,

and snubs will be the norm so long as

the mob of fans who decide the starters lack any education.

Though it'd be nice to see a change, 

I fear there is no easy solution.

And let's be honest, it's a silly All-Star game,

so no need for roundball revolution.

TS Eliot ain't got shit on me!

Keep Your Eyes on the Road

The Celtics have the Kings tonight in Boston, which should be an easy win for the NBA's best team, right?  You'd think so, but these are the types of games that can kill you as a team for a variety of reasons.  Most people call a game like this a "trap game," and even the most professional and disciplined of teams can fall victim to them at times throughout an 82 game season.  I don't think it will happen to the Celtics tonight, but in the NBA, as Kevin Garnett can tell you, "anything is possible!!!!!!!!!"

In my mind, the main reason that there are trap games in the NBA is because even the worst teams are still talented enough to rise to the occasion on any given night and topple even the mightiest of titans (even Jordan's Bulls lost every once in a while).  So even though the Kings are an abysmally bad team (they're worse than the Warriors AND the Clippers for cryin' out loud), they could still play spoilers tonight and end the Celtics' winning streak at 8.  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again, and if that blind squirrel has Kevin Martin to shoot and make plays for it, I'm not prepared to rule anything out.  

While I don't believe that the Celtics will lose this evening, there are a few specific reasons that do give me pause and may be bordering on cause for concern.  As I said, the first reason to be wary is Kevin Martin.  Now he may be inflated by the good-player-on-a-bad-team (for further case studies see Zach Randolph circa 2006) to a certain degree, but this kid can flat out play, and despite his funny looking form can fill it up with the best of them in the league.  He's been hobbled by injuries this year and is languishing in the purgatory that is Sacramento, California, but he can still be effective even against some of the Association's toughest defenses (against Cleveland last night Martin posted 35/7/7 on just 17 shots).

Secondly, the Kings lost to Cleveland last night and had to endure a triple-double from LeBron James and an astounding 43/8/11 from Mo "I'm putting Cleveland over the top this year" Williams.  But the Kings only lost by seven points, and managed to hang 110 on the tough-as-nails Cleveland defense, showing that they can hang with some of the NBA's elite teams and players.  Now, I'm not calling this a moral victory (I'm not big on those in general), and frankly, I think that this game was only going to be as close as the Cavs let it be, but that kind of mentality is the crux of the trap game problem.  What if a few buckets here or there go the other way, or a crucial call goes for the Kings?  Sacramento could have easily won last night because of Cleveland's failure to take them seriously, and while it's unusual for the Celtics to underestimate an opponent, it has happened before (seven game series against the Hawks last year, anyone?  Even I counted the chickens before they hatched on that one...).

And finally, tonight's game is a shot at redemption for the Kings, who were obliterated 108-63 by the Celtics earlier this season in Sacramento (their rear ends are still a little red from the whupping they got back in December of 2008).  In their last meeting, the Kings shot 28% and made only 19 field goals in the game (that's the fewest in the shot-clock era in Kings history), got pounded on the glass 53-31 and turned the ball over 18 times which turned into 25 points for Boston.  That game was a smack-down of epic proportions, and after being embarrassed in front of the dozens of fans in ARCO Arena, you'd better believe that the Kings are going to give the Celtics their best shot tonight.

Normally, I'd also point to a nationally televised game against Detroit this Friday as a potential pitfall for the Celtics, however this team is too good to look ahead and the Pistons aren't the same team they were last year, so I doubt very much that the Celtics feel the same way about Detroit now as they did last year.  I fully expect the Celtics to win tonight and continue their streak of dominant play through this week and into next Thursday's match-up with the Lakers in Boston on February 5th.  Come to think of it, I'd say that next Sunday's early game against McHale's Navy (that's the Minnesota Timberwolves, by the way) is a much better trap game scenario for the Celtics, because the Wolves are more talented than the Kings and have been playing great basketball since the New Year.  Oh yeah, and they have Al Jefferson and co. who could have a classic "revenge game" against their former team.

Mavs No Match...

If ever there was an example of a complete basketball game, this afternoon's "contest" (I use that term VERY liberally) between the Celtics and Mavericks was it.  From the opening tip-off to the final buzzer, Boston dominated both sides of the ball and abused Dallas all over the court for an easy 124-100 victory that wasn't even as close as the final score indicates.  The entire fourth quarter was played by the Celtics' reserves, and everybody but Leon Powe scored for the Celtics in a game that was a rout by halftime.

Just how bad was it for Dallas?  The Celtics scored 74 points in the first half on 65% shooting, and broke 100 points with about a minute left in the third quarter.  The Celtics shared the ball throughout the game and consistently made the extra pass, which led to a multitude of open looks that the Celtics' perimeter players (mostly Ray Allen and Eddie House) were more than happy to knock down.  Ray Allen finished with an efficient 23/5/7 on 9 of 13 shooting (4 of 5 from behind the arc) and Eddie House, who may have to assume the nickname of "the microwave" came off the bench and finished with 23 points of his own.  As a team, the Celtics made 16 three-pointers and actually finished shooting a better percentage (59%)from downtown than they did from inside the arc (54%).

While the Celtics' shooting was impressive, the way that the Celtics created shots for each other without turning the ball over was a huge breath of fresh air for Boston.  The Celtics had 34 assists as a team (Rajon Rondo contributed 14 with only two turnovers in a near triple double performance of 13/7/14 with 4 steals as well) with only six turnovers, and it seemed that everyone was keyed into the game and determined not to waste a single opportunity.  The ball consistently found the open man, and the Celtic players had their way with the Dallas defense, making unimpeded cuts to the basket for lay-ups and finding open space coming off of screens all day long.  

On the other side of the ball, the Celtic defense bothered Dallas from start to finish and forced them into bad shots and turnovers all game long.  Kevin Garnett deserves a special nod here for his inspired performance against Dirk Nowitzki, who was forced into a dismal 4 of 17 shooting performance and finished with only 18 points (he went 10-12 from the charity stripe).  Garnett is perhaps the only player in the NBA who can match Dirk's length and quickness, and KG used his physicality to bother the lanky German on both sides of the ball (Garnett finished with 23 points on 11-17 shooting in only 25 minutes).  Despite solid contributions from Jason Terry (27 points on 10-18 shooting) and Josh Howard (18 points), the Celtic defense stifled the Mavericks as a team and humbled them with their teamwork, effort and intensity on the defensive end.

By the way, that's eight wins in a row for the Celtics, who are now back atop the standings in the Eastern Conference at 37-9, sitting a game ahead of Cleveland and 2.5 games ahead of Orlando, who lost for the second time in a row today against the Heat.  So allow me to reiterate, there is no need to panic just yet, and despite the hysteria of a significant slice of the media, there is no need at this point for the Celtics to make any kind of desperation trade that might turn the Celtics into, well, the Dallas Mavericks (although adding a minor piece would be all right with me).

And although today's win was an impressive one for the Celtics, I think that it ultimately says more about how far Dallas has fallen than how dominant the Celtics are.  Watching the game today, it was hard to believe that this same Dallas team was in the Finals less than three years ago riding an NBA best 67 wins in 2006.  Back then they were a good defensive team that played with toughness and desire under Avery Johnson, and Dirk Nowitzki was the best player in the game and couldn't be stopped by anyone (except perhaps David Stern and the NBA refs who handed that series to Miami on a silver platter).  Now they're a bad defensive team that is inconsistent on offense and doesn't really seem capable of beating the better teams of the Association, and Nowitzki is easily bothered by most defenses and can't seem to recapture the form that made him the league MVP just a few seasons ago.  While they were never my team, per se, I did root for Dallas and could really appreciate their brand of basketball and the energy they played with, so it's actually quite sad for me to see them in such an epic and colossal free fall.  So it goes. 

Defending and Defeating Dwight Howard

Admittedly this post is a few days late, but I had to quell my own internal debate about how much weight I was willing to put into the Celtics' last victory against the Orlando Magic in Florida last Thursday.  I don't like the idea of regular season games holding any weight as "statement games," but after some careful consideration, I've decided that last Thursday's victory over the Magic contained a few tell tale signs that could come in handy a few months from now in the playoffs.  

While it certainly was nice to see the Celtics come away with another impressive victory over an elite team, I think that the contest actually said more about the Magic than it did about Boston.  The Celtics pretty much performed the way they should have and won the way they always do, with stifling defense, teamwork and effort.  In fact, the only thing that made this particular win noteworthy was the fact that the Celtics were going through a rough patch and couldn't handle business in their usual way, so seeing them perform as they should became the exception rather than the rule.

The Magic, on the other hand, were riding a seven game win streak that saw them set offensive records against Sacramento and sweep their season series against both the Spurs and Lakers.  During this time, the Magic had leapfrogged the Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings, and were looking like they might just rip like a buzz saw through the rest of the NBA and make the Finals this year.  Heck, people were starting to make the Dwight Howard/Shaq comparisons and prognosticate about a second round series between the Celtics and Cavaliers (assuming that the Magic would finish ahead of either one or both of those teams).  

And then the Celtics proceeded to dismantle the Magic, despite surrendering eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter.  Most impressive was the way in which the Celtics handled Dwight Howard, holding him to a pedestrian 11 points, 11 rebounds and only three blocks before fouling him out with five minutes to go.  In fact, the Celtics pretty much shut Howard down after the first quarter behind some inspired defense from Kendrick Perkins and Glen "Big Baby" Davis.  No, that's not a misprint, Dwight "the-best-center-in-the-game" Howard was absolutely shut down by Glen freaking Davis.  Would you like to know how?  (That's a rhetorical question, by the way.  I'm going to tell you whether you want to hear it or not).

The Celtics employed an absolutely brilliant strategy to stop Howard, and to be honest, it was so complicated I doubt that most of you will be able to follow it, but here it goes anyways.  The Celtics kept Howard out of the paint and away from the basket, and magically, he couldn't score (Ta-Da!).  Gee, that was complicated, almost as deep as trapping Kobe in a late game situation in order to throw the Lakers off their game and make somebody else beat you when all the chips are down (Sarcasm alert, sarcasm alert!).  You know, it's that kind of intricate defensive game-planning that gives Tom Thibodeau the image of a coaching genius.  I mean, not just anyone can do this to Dwight Howard, right?

Wrong.  In fact, the Charlotte Bobcats did an even better job on Howard earlier this year than the Celtics did on Thursday night, holding the big man to 4 points and 7 rebounds in just 26 minutes (though the Bobcats did lose that game by 5).  And wouldn't you know it, they used the same strategy that the Celtics did to contain Howard, making it a priority to keep Howard more than five feet away from the rim for most of the game.  And if the Bobcats can do that to Dwight Howard, I'd reckon that the Celtics could probably do the same thing more than once.  Oh wait, they already have (check the splits vs. Boston this year, you may have to scroll down a little bit).

I mean, the logic is so simple even Vin Diesel could understand it.  If you have a player who is only effective (albeit extremely effective) near the basket, then keep him away from it and you should have success in defending him.  You see, as good and as dominant as Dwight Howard is, he has only one reliable move on offense, which is the slam dunk.  Almost half of Howard's baskets this year have been dunks, and after watching him several times this year, I can honestly say that he really doesn't have another reliable move in his arsenal.  

Howard's jump-hook looks only slightly better than Greg Oden's at this point, and his footwork isn't even that much better.  Although Dwight did hit two early jump hooks against the Celtics (one with each hand), after that he returned to form and missed pretty much everything that wasn't at point blank range.  Howard was consistently getting the ball outside of the paint, and because of his poor footwork (and Big Baby's giant ass), he wasn't able to get to the rim and find the same high percentage looks he normally gets.  

And even worse than getting shredded by Big Baby on the other end (Davis went off for 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes), was the fact that the Celtics didn't even have to double Howard down low.  Even though Baby was giving up more than 6" of height to Howard, he was able to effectively defend Howard 1-on-1 for most of the evening.  With such a height advantage for Howard, the Celtics were effectively conceding any kind of over-the-top move Howard wanted all night long, but because Howard has no other reliable moves, this mismatch didn't matter a lick and the other Celtics were able to concentrate on defending Orlando's other dangerous weapons.

Now, I haven't gotten this officially confirmed by the Association yet, but I'm proposing that if you get shut down by Glen Davis, then you don't deserve to be in the MVP discussion that season.  Actually, even if it hadn't been Davis who had shut Howard down, I'd still say that Howard doesn't deserve any MVP nods or votes for defensive player of the year, for that matter.  I'd put him up there in the discussion for most overhyped player of the year (though I fear he might lose that one too to Kobe Bryant), but that's about it (he's a guy with one move who can't pass, hit free-throws or do anything but block a shot into the third row and give is opponents another chance to run a set play.  And he got shut down by Glen Davis!!!!!!!!  End of discussion).

While I'm not about to go way out there and say after Thursday's win that the Celtics will repeat as champions and that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, I will say that as good as Orlando is, I don't fear them that much and I don't think that the Celtics should either.  Also, I fear Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis far more than I fear Howard at this point.  A few years from now if Dwight can actually refine his game (like Amare Stoudemire did in Phoenix) and become a dynamic player who plays with consistent intensity on both ends of the floor, things will change for sure.  But until then, I'm only prepared to acknowledge one legitimate obstacle in the Celtics' path towards a repeat championship, and he wears #23 and plays in Cleveland.

And We Lived Beneath the Waves...

Greetings!  Let me begin by clarifying that this is a site dedicated to professional basketball and specifically the Boston Celtics, not a tribute to the finer works of Ringo Starr and/or the Beatles.  Sorry to disappoint, but I believe that the Bealtes blog is down the hall and through the third door on the left (wait, where's everybody going?).

I suppose it would be proper to give a bit of background about myself and where I come from, as well as establish the goals of this project and share some of my thoughts with all of you.  For the purposes of this blog my name will be BostonBiased?, though invariably most of my minuscule readership knows me as Dave.  Why "BostonBiased?"?  First of all, it's alliterative, which I love; and secondly, it's intended to inject a little bit of ambiguity (insert gay joke here) into my perspective on basketball and the NBA.  While I cannot deny my roots in the Northeast or the place that the Celtics hold in my heart as my hometown team, I would like to loudly proclaim that I love the game of basketball and enjoy seeing it played at the highest level possible regardless of the team or players that are involved.

So while I'll always root for the Celtics to succeed every single night, I'd like to think that I'm more than capable of acknowledging greatness even if that means having to gush about a rival or opponent.  For instance, the Celtics just tipped off against the Orlando Magic and while I'm rooting for Boston to dominate, I am excited a player like Dwight Howard do more than just dunk (he's hit two contested hook shots early on, one with each hand) and to see how Jameer Nelson will continue to grow and expand his game.  Does this mean I'm going to write gushing posts about the brilliance of Kobe Bryant on a regular basis?  Probably not, but I will if I have to.

Hopefully this site will grow quickly and change as I get a bit more settled in here, but if you're starved for content and want to get a sense of who I am and how I write, you can check me out over at http://bostoncelticsnews.com/bostonbiased/weblog, even if you just want to kill a few minutes at work that'd be just fine too.  

Anyhow, bookmark this page and keep coming back for more, I hope to add content almost every day.  Forgive the rather skeletal layout of the page for now, hopefully I'll be able to change things around soon.  If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, and if not, you're a lazy, uneducated, slack-jawed rube.  And you smell, so there.