Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Taking Prisoners



I attendemy first Celtic game of the new Kevin Garnett Era tonight. I was in a suite with several co workers who were given pregame instructions not to talk work with me because I was there for the game. Unfortunately, there was no game, only an exhibition. The Celtics scored 77 points by half time and at times were running over a 40 point lead. It wasn't even that close. This was against a very talented Denver Nugget team.

A few observations:

Kevin Garnett is very intense, but he makes every move look effortless if that is possible. He plays very well with Pierce.

Ray allen still looks like he is finding his role, and seems the most out of the flow of the players on the team, but he is still scoring points in bunches because of the sagging defense.

This was a very good test for Rondo facing Iverson after TJ Ford lit up the C's on Sunday. Not only did he pass, but he got an A. Great defense, solid offense, good floor general. He played well beyond his years tonight.

When Pierce came into the league, people forget how good defensively he was in his rookie season. As the team became solely dependent on him, he could ill afford to pick up cheap fouls so he backed off on defense. From what I have seen so far, he is back to his early defensive mindset. Offensively he is getting his points in the flow of the game. He also made the two best passes I have seen him make as a Celtic (and I have watched more games than most.

Other role players looking good are Eddie House, Kendrick Perkins and James Posey. These guys know their role and are not trying to do more than that. They are good pieces to the puzzle.

Doc Rivers may be the perfect coach for this team. He has them committing to defense and is playing th KC Jones coaching role on the team.

So what are these guys missing??? A back up point guard who is for emergency purposes only. A guy like David Wesley, Gary Payton, or even Dana Baros (fromer C's are always preferred for that championship ride)/

It is too early to make these guys front runners (although ESPN has them ranked @2 in their power ranking). It is a long season, but I thought this team would take longer to gel but they appear to have made a lot of progress from game 1 to game 3.

Fun stuff.

2 comments:

www.ayewonder.com said...

Incredibly convincing victory. But I disagree about anyone gelling on the team which will make it even more frightening for teams when they do.

Ez Blogger said...

I agree with you on the first two games, last night they were much more in sync. Exception was Allen who seemed to get shots when all else failed.