by James Grantham
Clearly it's none to easy to make a claim with such a long slog to come but a few weeks into the 08/09 season and champions the Boston Celtics are now 10/02 laying out their call to arms not just for the Division nor Eastern Conference but the Lakers and a possible repeat on last year’s Championship win.
After defeating the Atlanta Hawks and ending their run last week, travelling to the Knicks, Cavaliers and Nets and winning despite the 60+ age of the ‘big three’ of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, they are proving they can weather the games in quick succession.
Nothing is more symptomatic of Boston’s scope to succeed than the win over the Knicks 110/101 Monday night without Kevin Garnett. Leon Powe, the talismanic bench figure from last years finals proves his call does not go unanswered as Doc Rivers tell’s him to get on and hustle early in the 1st quarter. Hustle he did, as Rajon Rondo, with his turn of pace and slighter springier frame is a risk to point-guards breaking quickly and slicing through New York’s defence, Leon Powe, entirely un-phased gets into a scuffle with Randolph and shows just how strong the Celtic’s bench is, alongside ‘Baby Face’, Tony Allen, Scalabrine with his laid back 3’s and Kendrick Perkins.
With Rondo’s shiny new diamond and emerald NBA Championship ring glistening on his finger his orders – to play more aggressively and take them on in the paint and to the basket looks like addressing one of his personal short-comings of last years Championship winning season.
Taking the result of Monday night and the other statistics it’s clear to see Boston’s intent on starting as they mean to end, their 2 run and 10/02 overall win/ loss ratio places them easily top of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference and top of the entire Eastern Conference, with only the Cavaliers backing against them – only 1 win (and therefore 1 loss) behind the Celtics suffered at the Celtics hands. Last night proving that without Garnett thanks to a foul and suspension received from the game at Milwaukee they had gaps but nothing they couldn’t plug up. That said the Knicks' new style isn't entirely successful just yet and really looked lethargic from time to time.
It also seems that without the firing on all cylinders of the finals last year, the ‘big three’ are still so damaging. It’s not their run-away scoring potential, because outside of the common 15/0 spells they take there is no consistent scoring of the level they can accomplish, not until the season gets deeper in and the stakes higher will we see this gloss.
It’s not just the ‘big three' either, of the Celtic’s top 5, the PPG read 21.0, 17.6, 16.3, 7.6 and 7.2 before the NY game Monday night, hardly prolific. Yet the wins were 9/2. It’s the ability to grind it out and dominate in massive spells in games, as shown in last years finals turning around a 20 something deficit to take the Lakers win from them, plus the motivation and leadership of Doc Rivers to turn around similar troughs in the games come the following quarter. The Celtics, unless damaged in the process, look like serious contenders to make it two championships in a row. Unless, I suspect, more than one of the ‘big three’ are out at a time.
Clearly it's none to easy to make a claim with such a long slog to come but a few weeks into the 08/09 season and champions the Boston Celtics are now 10/02 laying out their call to arms not just for the Division nor Eastern Conference but the Lakers and a possible repeat on last year’s Championship win.
After defeating the Atlanta Hawks and ending their run last week, travelling to the Knicks, Cavaliers and Nets and winning despite the 60+ age of the ‘big three’ of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, they are proving they can weather the games in quick succession.
Nothing is more symptomatic of Boston’s scope to succeed than the win over the Knicks 110/101 Monday night without Kevin Garnett. Leon Powe, the talismanic bench figure from last years finals proves his call does not go unanswered as Doc Rivers tell’s him to get on and hustle early in the 1st quarter. Hustle he did, as Rajon Rondo, with his turn of pace and slighter springier frame is a risk to point-guards breaking quickly and slicing through New York’s defence, Leon Powe, entirely un-phased gets into a scuffle with Randolph and shows just how strong the Celtic’s bench is, alongside ‘Baby Face’, Tony Allen, Scalabrine with his laid back 3’s and Kendrick Perkins.
With Rondo’s shiny new diamond and emerald NBA Championship ring glistening on his finger his orders – to play more aggressively and take them on in the paint and to the basket looks like addressing one of his personal short-comings of last years Championship winning season.
Taking the result of Monday night and the other statistics it’s clear to see Boston’s intent on starting as they mean to end, their 2 run and 10/02 overall win/ loss ratio places them easily top of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference and top of the entire Eastern Conference, with only the Cavaliers backing against them – only 1 win (and therefore 1 loss) behind the Celtics suffered at the Celtics hands. Last night proving that without Garnett thanks to a foul and suspension received from the game at Milwaukee they had gaps but nothing they couldn’t plug up. That said the Knicks' new style isn't entirely successful just yet and really looked lethargic from time to time.
It also seems that without the firing on all cylinders of the finals last year, the ‘big three’ are still so damaging. It’s not their run-away scoring potential, because outside of the common 15/0 spells they take there is no consistent scoring of the level they can accomplish, not until the season gets deeper in and the stakes higher will we see this gloss.
It’s not just the ‘big three' either, of the Celtic’s top 5, the PPG read 21.0, 17.6, 16.3, 7.6 and 7.2 before the NY game Monday night, hardly prolific. Yet the wins were 9/2. It’s the ability to grind it out and dominate in massive spells in games, as shown in last years finals turning around a 20 something deficit to take the Lakers win from them, plus the motivation and leadership of Doc Rivers to turn around similar troughs in the games come the following quarter. The Celtics, unless damaged in the process, look like serious contenders to make it two championships in a row. Unless, I suspect, more than one of the ‘big three’ are out at a time.
No comments:
Post a Comment