One night after beating the Miami Super-Heat, the Mighty Celtics have fallen. The Cleveland Cavs gave their fans playoff hopes with one simple 95-87 win over my Green Army, and they deserved it. Without LeBron, the Cavs looked strong, especially while holding the C's back as the game wound down.
Hickson led the way for C-Town, with 21 points and 6 boards, in a game where Cleveland stepped up when it mattered. The bad guys outscored the good guys 27-14 in the fourth quarter after the Celts built up a 5 point lead after three (we were up by 11 at one point in the third). There shouldn't be any excuse for the poor close out execution on the part of the Celtics, but it did kind of get topped off by a three that seemed to not get off before the shot clock should have expired by Anthony Parker. Held up even after the review, the ball that was scored on what Doc Rivers called "the longest second in NBA history," kept the Celtics at an arm's length and kept the Cavs in the driver's seat late. Cleveland fans were celebrating like they just won the title, but I'll give them the same advice that I give my own Celtic faithful today: It's just one game.
And in this one game, the Celts shot a mesely 3 for 12 from beyond the arc (25%), while shooting just 47% from the field overall. They also lost the offensive rebounding battle (-2) and coughed up 5 more turnovers than the victors. Rajon Rondo's assist total from the previous night was nearly cut in half, as he finished with 18 points and 9 helpers. Hm, maybe that's a hint at what went wrong here. When Rondo passed it went really well, when he scored more, not so much. Meanwhile, Ray Ray (12), Pierce (13), and Glen Davis (14) were the other double digit scorers, while KG finished with 15 boards. Clearly, one night after coming off of a double double, Ticket's 9 and 15 night was alright, but not dominant enough to carry us. Jermaine O'Neil, however, may have to take his fair share of the blame. How do you foul out in 12 minutes after only contributing 2 points, 2 boards, and (thanks for the) 3 turnovers? Awful stuff, man. Still, outside of all of this and even taking into consideration the loss in general, the biggest and most enduring sting for me comes on the BS three by Parker late. The one on the shot clock sat there for three seconds, and it may have been the turning point that held us back.
While it's still early, obviously, I'd like to take a quick look at the team stats of my 1-1 squad. Our PPG differential is amazingly even after two contests, 87.5 PPG both ways, which is 26th out of 28 teams on offense, but 3rd out of 28 teams on defense. Our SRS (a stat shared by the NHL and NFL, and a stat with a league average of zero) is +6.00, which is good enough for #2 in the league. PACE is a stat I find pretty cool too, which tries to estimate a team's possessions per 48 minutes. The Celtics PACE factor is 91.5, which is only good enough for 22nd in the association. Keep in mind that, thus far, we are holding opponents to a 40 FG%, 35 3PT%, are +4 in rebound differential, and +10 in assist differential. No "I" in "Team."
Speaking of an "I," I'd like to focus on my main man Glen Davis after these first two games. Big Baby seems to be the most underrated Celtic as we get off the ground floor, but as you'll see, he may be one of the top performers. Davis' PER is a team leading 19 (only Rondo and Pierce are also performing above the league average of 15). He's also leading the team in TS% (true shooting percentage, which takes into account 2s, 3s and FTs) with a .715 mark, eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which takes into account the differing values of 2s and 3s) at .722, TOV% (turnover percentage, which is an estimate of turnovers per 100 plays) at 0.0, ORtg (offensive rating, which is an estimate of points produced per 100 possessions) at 140 (+28 on #2 Paul Pierce!), OWS (offensive win shares) at 0.2, WS (win shares, taking into account offense and defense) at 0.3, and even WS/48 (win shares per 48 minutes played, where league average is 0.1) at 0.249. That may sound like a lot to take in, but it all boils down to the fact that Glen Davis has been a mega-stud so far this season, and I only expect him to get better. Now if only he can get the recognition he deserves.
So, my 1-1 Celtics, who now trail New York and New Jersey in the division by 0.5 games, get ready to square off with those aforementioned Knickerbockers on Friday at home. The Knicks opened their season with a 5 point win over Toronto, but hopefully the Bean Town crowd can encourage the Celts to stay unbeaten at home and get back to their winning ways. Also, in case you are keeping track at home, our hated rivals from Los Angeles lost their season opening game 88-98 to the Blazers, and sit 0.5 back of us to start the season in the LSF standings. I think Baron Davis (the fourth Davis brother?) showed his intelligence in his post-game quote, "I hate that we lost." Nice. Very Bull-Durham-esque. "I love winning. You know? It's, like, better than losing." Davis and his merry men look for their first win tomorrow against Golden State. Here's a hint: they won't get it.
The greatest rivalry in all of sports lives on!
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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