Boston's Bettah – A Boston Sports blog from guys that love Boston sports a little too much

Thoughts I thought

1. Paul Pierce’s return was easily the most important thing these Boston Celtics needed to finally get into the win column. It was clear from the get go that Paul Pierce was trying to be aggressive and prove that he was ready to return. He got to the basket, got himself open for jump shots and played good defense. Even when the play wasn’t going through him, his presence opened up the entire offense because the Pistons had to respect him at all times. This opened up the floor for everyone else on the offense.  He finished with only 12 points, but he was much more important than that to the Boston Celtics tonight.
2. Okay, okay, I know he airballed a long-three in the second quarter, but Rajon Rondo and his jumper looks so much better this year which has me increasingly excited about his season. No longer is he worried about coming off screens and having no passing lanes because teams are playing him five feet off. Now, he turns the corner, sees an open shot and takes it. When he pulled back and took a three in the first quarter, I was fine with it because he was open and  his shooting stroke looks that much better. He’s attempted 7 threes this year and hit 3 of them. It’s not his shot, but slowly but surely, teams are gonna have to defend him on the perimeter and that’s when Rondo will be extremely dangerous.
3. Acording to Celtics color commentator Tommy Heinson, Greg Stiemsma is the greatest thing to ever happen to this team. Kid hustles, and plays moderately okay defense, but once again, I don’t think he can be your answer as a back-up big man. When Kevin Garnett’s legs betray him in February and Jermaine O’ Neal’s right leg shrivels up and dies, do you really trust Greg Stiemsma to lock down the middle of the Celtics defense? I didn’t think so.
4. Brandon Bass has to be the early favorite for for sixth man of the year. After his 17 point performance tonight, he’s averaging a 15/7 in 28 minutes of play. The only thing left to fix with him is his defense is not up to par as say… Glen Davis’ was last year, but you have KG to teach him the defensive skills when the Celtics finally get to practice. Brandon Bass will continue to have to put these numbers up because, again, Kevin Garnett might lose his knee by February.

Questions I still have

1. Good god…is that… IS THAT JERMAINE O’ NEAL’S MUSIC? The better question is whether or not Jermaine O’ Neal can repeat this performance he had tonight down the road. The good news is that he had a 19/7 tonight and lead the team in scoring. Any time Jermaine O’ Neal is leading the team in scoring it either means they are doing extremely well or getting blown out by 20 with no in between. Tonight, because they got enough of an effort from everyone else, it was a good thing. The bad news is that Jermaine O’ Neal put up these numbers against the dynamic duo of Greg Monroe and the corpse of Ben Wallace. Basically, his match-up was pretty favorable from him tonight and if he didn’t have a good game I was going to have major questions about him. Still, nice performance from him tonight. Don’t want to be too negative.
2. How will the Celtics perform this weekend? Celtics get tomorrow night off (likely to fly to Washington) then play Washington on Sunday night and then fly back to Boston for a game on Monday night. First of all I would like to thank the NBA scheduling committee for being complete ass holes and making us go down the I-95 corridor for less than 24 hours before sending us back home instead of letting us play Sunday at home and than sending us to D.C for a Monday game. That’s neither here nor there, but god forbid the Celtics get to sleep in their own bed this week. I’m more concerned with the flying and the hotel sleeping and the back to back. The Celtics are notoriously awful in back to backs and the Washington Wizards aren’t exactly tops in the league. I would like to see a good effort both nights and come back 3-3, but sorry for having my doubts.

 

The thoughts I had while I wished that I didn’t have NBA league pass to watch that abomination of a basketball game from the Boston Celtics.

Thoughts I thought

1. It seems like it’s going to be season number two of “It’s the second night of a back-to-back. We don’t really feel like playing tonight”. This probably isn’t the best way to go through the season considering that the Celtics are going to be playing quite a number of back-to-backs this season. I understand they got off the plane really early this morning, but come on guys, better effort. That was embarrassing.
2. I’ll blame tiredness on the fact that Rajon Rondo seemed to be a little less aggressive tonight. Wasn’t attacking the basket with the same ferociousness that he was in the first two games. I hope it’s tiredness and not the fact that Rondo was playing down to his competition. That would worry me.
3. Sure, Greg Stiemsma was fun tonight, but the Celtics need another center. Stiemsma had six blocks, was fairly active defensively and (let’s be honest) we love our goofy looking white-guys in Boston. We also know that Greg Stiemsma is just that, a goofy looking white dude who plays really hard and will likely be on the bench in a nice suit giving chest bumps come April. I don’t really want Stiemsma being my Chris Wilcox/Back-Up Center insurance later in the season and I’m sorry if that sounds like heresy.
4. Thank god for Ray Allen. Thanks to him these games aren’t complete ass whuppings.

Questions I still have

1. What’s wrong with Kevin Garnett? If this sounds familiar it’s because I asked the same question last night. I know his game has always been the mid range jumper, but this is starting to get ridculous. If he scored close to the basket and I don’t remember I’m sorry, but I think he’s afraid of the basket or something. Did someone tie an invisible fence collar around his neck and didn’t tell us? He’s shying away from the basket, getting boxed out and not being KG.
2. Will Paul Pierce be back Friday? Please… please… this team needs him back now. I don’t know if he was worth twenty points tonight, but I’m not sure it gets to that point if he’s in the line-up.
3. How many more three’s does Kenyon Dooling need to hit before I name him to the irrational confidence All-Star team? I say four.
4. At what point in the season is it okay to start playing around with the NBA trade machine and finding potential suitors for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen? And I’m only half kidding about this one.

 

• Ethan Winter posted on 2012/01/02
  Its KEYON Dooling not Kenyon Dooling!