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Doc: Last year's team would be out of the playoffs already

2012-06-04T17:10:34-05:00

Doc Rivers has, from time to time, shown he's not entirely fond of last year's Celtics team. He'll tell you flat out that last year's team was more talented than this one, but this one actually plays together.

In a conference call today, less than a day removed from a tough, gritty win to even up the Eastern Conference Finals at two games each, he brought it up again.

"I look at this year's team and last year's team and last year's team we would have been out of the playoffs already. We just weren't the same. We weren't a team. This team is very close, they're very competitive. I think they understand Rondo is the leader of this team, everyone else plays with Rondo. Kevin is still a great player. Paul is still our best scorer. They've kind of gotten out of each others' way with roles. Then I think all the new guy have added a great competitive energy to our basketball team."

Last year's team featured guys like Delonte West, Shaquille O'Neal, and Nate Robinson. Talented players, sure, but drama constantly surrounded them (self imposed or otherwise). I'm not sure some of the more serious guys on the team liked the way everything was happening.

Us? We loved it. We loved the videos and the crazy antics. But that wears thin after a while. There's fun, and then there's over the top.

The second part of Doc's quote, where the guys have all fallen in line behind Rondo, is also interesting. I know Doc speaks of it like the transition is done, but I think we're still in the middle of it. Or maybe past the middle of it. Maybe the transition will be complete at the beginning of next season when other guys take bigger roles. But I see where Doc is going with it.

Interpretations aside, it's pretty clear: Doc loves this year's team and he doesn't really like last year's. Maybe in an overly honest moment, someone can get some names and/or examples as to why that is. But that's what it is.

Enemy Chatter: Bosh had better find himself a cape

2012-06-04T14:49:12-05:00

We often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics. Here's a look at some enemy chatter from Miami

With a healthy 6-foot-11 Bosh in the fold, the Heat's attack can be stabilized again. The question is, will he be healthy? The truth is we don't know; heck, the Heat don't even know. But one thing's for sure: Bosh was speaking the truth when he told ESPN.com recently, "I need this team just like they need me."

Bosh had better find himself a cape, because it's time to rescue the Heat.

Heat Index

The link has a bunch of numbers as to why Chris Bosh is suddenly the savior of the Miami Heat. There's also this simple explanation:

The Heat is most dangerous when Bosh is setting screens. Without Bosh, still sidelined because of abdomen strain, Anthony or Turiaf -who are averaging six points combined in the playoffs - set the screen, which allows the defense to sag off and concentrate on Wade.

And this is where Bosh will have the most effect. Because instead of letting Joel Anthony just pop to wherever without caring.... Bosh can pop and make the mid-range shot or roll and score in the post.

I know, I know, I know... we all want to make fun of Bosh. He's easy to make fun of when he does stuff like this, or this (or, if you prefer something that will keep you up at night, this). KG's numbers against Chris Bosh are good, but it's not about the 1-on-1 match up. KG will win the 1-on-1. But it's how Bosh affects Miami's offense, which the Celtics have shut down fairly well so far that will be the issue.

This all, of course, hinges on whether Chris Bosh is actually healthy. If he is, he'll be trouble. If he's not, then he could do more harm than good by being tentative. Think of how Miami played off Ray the first couple of games. If the Celtics find out Bosh is struggling and he can't hit his normal shots with normal regularity, then they'll treat him like they've treated all the other bigs, they'll double Dwyane Wade, and dare LeBron and the rest of the Heat to be the James-era Cleveland Cavaliers.

I guess we find out tomorrow night, don't we?

Corinne Grousbeck > Micky Arison

2012-06-04T13:00:00-05:00

How awesome is Wyc's wife Corinne? She tweeted out this photo from last night's game.

Meanwhile, Heat owner Micky Arison is busy complaining about the Garden floor.

Corinne Grousbeck FTW.

Photo: Lisa Wan

Giving Pietrus some of the credit he deserves

2012-06-04T11:30:00-05:00

Mickael Pietrus is a funny guy.

I don't just mean that in a "he makes everyone laugh" kind of way, although, he certainly does that. I mean it in a polite, flummoxed way.

He has the ability to put the ball to the floor and drive, but he doesn't because he says he's been scared off by his injury. Yet he'll do it every once in a while. He get torched on D five straight times and then he comes up huge with a defensive stop.

Three of the biggest plays last night, you could argue, were made by Mickael Pietrus.

The first came with 1:51 left overtime when a Michael Pietrus held his ground against a retreating LeBron James and drew a sixth foul on the three-time MVP. The next came on the ensuing possession when Pietrus grabbed an offensive rebound and kept the possession alive with 1:31 left. The third play came on the same possession when Pietrus grabbed another offensive rebound with 1:04 on the clock and extended kept the ball in Boston’s hands for more than a minute as the team nursed a one-possession lead.

You can argue whether LeBron's 6th foul was actually a foul or not, but Pietrus put himself into a good position. As an aside, you could probably argue that LeBron committed a 6th foul (or more) somewhere else in the game that didn't get called... but I digress. The point is, Pietrus got into a good spot, he took the contact, he probably sold it a little, and LeBron was gone.

And even though the Celtics didn't score on the extra possession they got, anything that forces the opposing defense to play harder for longer hurts them. Hell, just look at the Celtics and how they get killed by offensive rebounds all the time.

It's always the little things that add up to make the difference in close wins. Marquis Daniels avoiding the foul that would have given Wade free throws at the end of the game was as big as anything else in the game. Pietrus getting LeBron out and extending possessions at a critical time was huge too, and plays like that should be acknowledged as part of winning playoff basketball.

Rondo on the Heat: "they're crying and complaining"

2012-06-04T09:55:07-05:00

That was subtle, huh?

First of all, I love any non-canned answer out of an athlete.

Secondly, I love that Rondo blatantly called the Heat out for crying to refs during games. The sad thing is, it's not exclusive to the Heat. Hell, our guys do it too.

But still... Rondo has no fear, and I love him for that. And he's right. When a player turns and begs for a call, his guy needs to bust his ass down the court and get into a position to score or make the next pass on the break.

You take any advantages you can. And if it's LeBron turning and looking for a ref because he didn't get a call, the Pierce had better be getting somewhere where he can score the ball before LeBron recovers.

Your Morning Dump... Is this team anything like the 2008 squad?

2012-06-04T06:49:11-05:00

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Somehow they pulled it off. Somehow they’re still alive. They’ve done this before, of course, but never quite like this with Pierce fouling out and Rivers running Garnett on and off the court just to give him a minute here and a rest there.

With Daniels and Mickael Pietrus on the floor in the overtime, the Celtics were playing 3-on-5 offensively and Rondo told Garnett it was time: “We have to take over.” Only they couldn’t. They scored only four points in the overtime, but it was enough.

They’ve never had to win a playoff game of this magnitude with Daniels guarding Wade on the final possession, Pietrus crashing the glass for offensive rebounds and Keyon Dooling draining corner 3’s.

“It’s kind of similar to [2008],” Rondo said. “It’s not the superstars that get all the praise ââ well, they do get all the praise, but the guys like the PJ. Browns, the [James] Poseys. It’s similar to what we’re doing this year.”

WEEI - Celtics stay together, together

Not sure I'm buying the comparisons to 2008. The Celtics had reliable role players during that championship run. While Posey, Brown and Eddie House would take turns making big plays, they were much more consistent than this heart attack inducing crew.

But hey... they are making some plays.

Keyon Dooling is having a great (for him) series. Last night he added 3 threes to his ball-hawking defense.

Michael Pietrus continues to churn out bad fouls. But those consecutive offensive rebounds late in overtime were huge.

Marquis Daniels had a tough 15 minutes. His biggest contribution was not fouling Wade on the final play. Good enough for me.

The role players are really no different than the stars. Nothing comes easy.

Related links: ESPN Boston - Wade miss gives Celtics new life | Globe - No points, but Pietrus comes up big | Herald - Dooling takes his turn |

On Page 2, Chris Bosh will play in Game 5.

According to multiple sources, the Heat are hoping to activate Chris Bosh for Tuesday's Game 5 if he doesn't suffer a setback in workouts over the next two days. Bosh declined to discuss his status following the Heat's 93-91 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, which tied the series at 2-2.

He has been doing on-court workouts for the past week and got on the floor with teammates during practices while the Heat were in Boston. Typically players who return from abdominal strains take awhile to return to full strength and Bosh could be playing on a minute restriction when he comes back.

ESPN - Sources: Bosh back for Game 5

Chris Bosh, come on down. You're the next starting center for the Miami Heat.

Bosh is an obvious talent upgrade over Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf. He will impact the game. But given the minutes restriction, potential for rust, and the fact no two games in this series have looked alike, I'm not overly concerned.

The rest of the links:

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Recap: The grittiest and ballsiest win yet

2012-06-03T22:58:39-05:00

Three reasons the Celtics won this game:

Grit and balls.

Balls and grit.

Grit and balls.

What did I tell you all before the game via Twitter? Joey Crawford is the only ref with the balls to take on LeBron Wade and Dwyane Wade. And Joey delivered with the 6th whistle on James.

Now excuse me while I restart my heart.

(image courtesy Jose3030)

Jeff Van Gundy: C's should give it one more run

2012-06-03T16:00:00-05:00

I like Jeff Van Gundy. I think he's one of the best analysts out there... which isn't saying much in a landscape where Reggie Milller is one of the main guys. Still, I like him.

And he makes a good point about the Celtics next season.

“Some people never consider that change can be bad for a team,’’ he said. “Radical change at that. If you don’t have anybody in free agency that you can target, bringing back Garnett for one year at big money makes complete sense. And then go at it again next year to see where you’re at.’’

I know... we've got bigger things to worry about... like a Game 4 tonight that could be the beginning of the end of the Celtics season, or the game that starts this series all over again from scratch. But since Jeff brought it up....

The Celtics are built to blow up after this year, with only four players guaranteed to be under contract (Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Avery Bradley and JaJuan Johnson). The Celtics can make a qualifying offer to Greg Stiemsma and make him a restricted free agent, and Brand Bass has a $4 million player option. And that's it.

The free agent pool next year is thin. Dwight Howard is not coming to Boston, because the Celtics have no one to trade for him (remember, he picked up his option, so he's not a free agent anymore). Deron Williams is not going to sign with Boston, so that leave the field even thinner. The names in 2013 are better, so why not give it one more run with a modified version of this team?

Will KG come back? That's something that's been discussed over the past couple of days. Doc thinks KG is coming back, but there's been talk about him leaving on a high note. I'd obviously love to see him back, playing about 30 minutes a game. You bring Bass back to be your starting power forward and you run with the same starting 5 that started the playoffs in Rondo, Bradley, Pierce, Bass and KG.

I think you bring E'Twaun Moore back and slowly work him into the mix, possibly even preparing him to play the Ray Allen role of shooter off the bench if Ray doesn't return. You bring Jeff Green back to come off the bench as a 3 or a 4 (primarily a 3 to back up Pierce). You bring Stiemsma back as a solid backup center and then you hope JaJuan Johnson materializes as a potential back-up 4.

Yes, the plan involves a lot of faith in a pair of guys who barely played this year. And you still don't know what the #21 and #22 picks in this year's draft will turn into. I'd still like to see Ray Allen return in a bench role for the Celtics. And you still need to find a capable back up point (I'm not sure Moore is the guy for that). But still, a bench of Ray, Green, Stiemsma, Johnson and Moore has the potential to be pretty good (emphasis on potential).

I'll stop here since this is more of a discussion that should be had in July, when free agency is actually happening rather than June, when the team is still playing. But I think bringing some of these guys back as part of the transition to the Rondo-led Celtics of the future is worthwhile. If there's no real way to improve your team this offseason, bring most of the gang back and try to make another run as a 6, 7, or 8 seed (or higher... you never know how things shake out). Either way, you're still working young guys in, but this way you're giving them the veteran leadership to continue to carry them along, and you probably set yourself up for another shot in the playoffs.

To me, it just makes sense.

Does the pick-and-pop game return for KG and the Celtics tonight?

2012-06-03T14:16:33-05:00

Doc Rivers has been stressing the post game so much that I wouldn't be surprised if the team put a shock collar on him and set it to go off 5 feet from the rim. And as you can see from one Jay's videos from the Greenlights earlier today, it really paid off.

But the playoffs are all about matchup and adjustments. KG is taller than all of the Heat, and the C's have one of the best passers in the game, so fronting him didn't pan out so well. And the Celtics use of pick-and-rolls to establish deep position is something the Heat will have to figure out.

So what do they do about it?

1) They can stop fronting KG. Unless they really want all those lobs to get him the ball 3 feet from the basket.

2) They can blitz the ball handler off the pick so he can't see KG when he rolls. At the :20 mark, Paul Pierce has the ball, LeBron is lazy getting over the pick and KG just rolls to the hoop to get the ball deep in the lane. Miami can double team that hard so Pierce can't get that pass in there. Philadelphia doubled Pierce in those situations and got good results.

But at the :08 mark, you see how the C's can counter that as Pietrus gives the ball up to Rondo after getting the pick from KG and it's Rondo that makes the entry pass. The C's have, and will continue to, position guys as outlets when doubles come on the ball-handler in pick-and-roll situations.

Still, Miami's best bet is to figure out how to attack the pass rather than attack Garnett. You can crash on KG when he catches the ball, but he's still the best passing big man around, so you're going to have to find another way. If you double KG, then I'd tell Ray to just become Avery Bradley and dive to the hoop and get a ton of layups. That's fine by me.

No, you have to, if you're Miami, attack the ball... especially once its out of Rondo's hands. If the C's run the P&R with anyone else, I'd say they blast that ball handler and hope for a turnover or a pass along the perimeter. Of course, the C's will welcome the ball movement. They should take advantage of that.

Couple of options.

1: You send KG down to the post anyway, swing the ball a couple of more times and try to hit him on the block.

Rondo swings to Pierce and then it gets into KG. They might try to deny Rondo there and even though KG is open, hope that the double team is strong enough where the pass is soft and possibly stolen. I'm not a fan of that option. What I'd do if Miami doubles is..

2: Go back to the pick and pop.

I know it's not the post game Doc's been begging for, but you take what you get and you hope that KG's shot is its usual deadly self. In this situation, KG reads the double team. Pietrus takes one more dribble at about a 45 degree angle towards center court, then would reverse and look for KG in the open spot on the wing. From there it's his usual 18 footer or, at least in that photo, Ray in the corner.

Of course, they may not double and this means nothing. But Miami will do something to stop KG from catching the ball so close to the basket and that's going to leave something open. And all my feeble blogger brain keeps going back to is to stop the pass from getting there because you can't make an adjustment in which Udonis Haslem grows 4 inches. The way to stop KG from getting the ball so deep is not necessarily to prevent HIM from getting there, it's to prevent the ball from getting there. That's going to to open up a nice little area around 15-20 feet from the hoop.

The Celtics, luckily, are pretty proficient from that spot. And if it's not KG, then it will have to be Brandon Bass who finds some overflow offense from there. I think the Celtics return to some of the stuff we've been used to seeing tonight, knowing full well they can go back to the stuff that worked in Game 3 if Miami backs off it's new plan. We'll still see ball-movement, the result will simply be open mid-range jumpers that the C's will have to knock down if they're going to tie this series.

Doc's best explanation of "disengaged" Rondo

2012-06-03T12:11:38-05:00

Without actually going back and counting, I'm going to guess that easily more than half of what has been discussed on this site this year has been Rajon Rondo and his penchant for, to use the popular term for it now, disengaging from the festivities on the court.

Everyone gets pissed off about it. Everyone screams at the TV begging for him to wake up. And afterwards, everyone comes flooding to this or other sites of choice and begins flogging the kid for it.

Well, for the first time time that I can remember, Doc has spoken at a little length about coaching Rondo. Jackie MacMullan sat down with him for ESPN's Sunday conversation, and this was their exchange about Rondo:

MacMullan: Rondo... you've done such a good job with this kid. He's so complicated, he thinks he's the best point guard in the league one day, and then half an hour later, he thinks he's the worst guy on the floor. Is he the most challenging one yet?

Doc: Oh yeah, yeah... but I love it. It's a process and a grind every day because he's so good, and he's so emotional. I think fans see him sometimes where he doesn't play hard... it's not because he's decided not to play hard. It's because he shut off because something has happened in the game and he's thinking about it. And his biggest thing every year now is how quickly he can get over the negative, and understand there's going to be negative in every game.

He's still only 26, and he's still learning. Rondo controls his emotions so much when meeting with the media, it's hard to see the real him behind the scenes. It's an interesting insight into why certain things are happening.

Now, of course, the challenge is to stop it from happening. Jackie's question almost tells me more about him than Doc's answer because it speaks to the internal battle he's having with himself. He's outwardly confident, but internally, he may be fighting to keep that confidence up.

Hey, the game of basketball is hard. And going out there in front of 19,000 people every night and millions of people watching at home... and failing... that's got to be a blow to your confidence. Hell, we all take hits to our own confidence at work or school when we fail at something.. and we don't have all those people watching us screw up.

It's all just so interesting when you think of these guys as human beings with one exceptional skill set rather than just characters on a court bouncing around your television. This one question and answer poured some much insight into this concoction that is the mercurial Rajon Rondo.

This is one complicated guy.

By the way, watch the whole video for Doc saying he thinks KG is coming back and how Pat Riley is such a huge influence on him.