Celtics Snap Skid Against Hapless Sixers (11/19/14)

Well one thing is for sure, the Celtics are NOT the worst team in basketball. They're pretty bad, but they can't hold a candle to the Philadelphia 76ers' ineptitude. Even in Philly, the Celtics were able to control the game and play defense for once, coming out on top with a 101-90 win.

Hero of the night is obviously Brandon Bass. He had 23 points, an assist, a steal, a block and 6 rebounds.

Bawful report:

Vitor Faverini and Marcus Smart get checkmarks for the Ellison. Gerald Wallace, James Young and Dwight Powell get checkmarks for the Scalabrine.


Final Thoughts:

Finally a win, that puts them at 4-6 on the year. Next up are the banged up Memphis Grizzlies.

11 Missed Free Throws Leads To Defeat (11/17/14)

Before the game, Dwight Powell and James Young were brought up from the D-League. Apparently rules are different in basketball. In baseball, if someone is sent to the minors they have to stay there for a while. Apparently in basketball guys can go up and down with a lot of frequency.

As I said in previous posts, the Celtics invent new ways to lose. Tonight the Celtics conked 11 free throws and lost 118-114. Once again they played absolutely no defense, allowed yet another 110+ points and just seemed disinterested all around.

I don't even have to go in to the replay, the bottom line is the Celtics missed 11 free throws in a 4 point game. Actually there is one thing that needs to be said. With the Celtics trailing 118-114, Rondo was fouled shooting a 3 with two seconds left. Had he hit the first 2, at least they would have had a chance for the rebound and a quick putback to tie the game. Instead he bricked all 3 of them and that was it. Rondo missed 8 free throws by himself, absolutely pathetic.

Bawful report:

Not much here on the offensive side apart from Kelly Olynyk but I'll get to him later. Marcus Thornton and Phil Pressey only had 4 points apiece but they both took only 4 shots apiece as well. There's an unofficial award called the "Dantley" for having more free throws than made field goals and Brandon Bass would have won it because he had 4 points from the line but bricked every shot he took. I'll have to check with the scholars to see if anyone on the Celtics ever had Adrian Dantley like stats. Now for the nightly awards. Vitor Faverini and Marcus Smart get checkmarks for the Ellison Award. Dwight Powell, Gerald Wallace and James Young get checkmarks for the Scalabrine. Kelly Olynyk negated 4 rebounds with 4 fouls and 3 turnovers for a 7-4 Hamilton.  Jackass of the Night is easy, Rajon Rondo....a repeat offender. Yes he had 14 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds but he missed 8 crucial free throws which would have changed the complexion of the game entirely.

                                                   Repeat Offender

Were there any positives? Everyone else really. Jared Sullinger had 18 points and 8 rebounds. Tyler Zeller had 19 points off the bench, and on and on.


Final Thoughts:

Another loss that could have been a win. Hopefully they can regroup against the winless Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night in Philly.

Powell and Young sent to D-League (11/16/14)

In a moved that surprised no one, Celtics rookies Dwight Powell and James Young have been sent to the NBA-DL. Neither one of them was getting any sort of playing time (which is on the coach) and its better for them to get some playing experience so they don't get rusty and lose confidence.

Powell was the training camp long shot so he wasn't supposed to be anything special to begin with. Other than racking up Scalabrine's, Ellison's and a Super Mario Galaxy, he hasn't really done anything yet. He needs the D-League more than anything because he's the 15th man of 15 guys really.

Young is the more disappointing of the two. He was the pick the Celtics got from the Nets really and he's only played in 2 games with no serious minutes. Its now time for an epic rant. Young is basically the youngest player in the NBA right now and really he should be a sophomore in college. This is why I personally hate the one and done rule in college because guys are coming out completely unprepared to play at the pro level and owners, gm's and coaches give up on players if they don't pick up right away. Stevens knows college talent and apparently he doesn't like what he sees out of Young.


Update:

Young and Powell made their D-League debuts tonight scoring 21 apiece. Chris Babb also pumped in 15 as the Maine Red Claws defeated Fort Wayne 81-80. Injuries and ineffectiveness may see not only Young or Powell but Babb himself returning. Its nice to see these guys do well, sure the games are virtually meaningless when playing inferior competition, but it keeps the kids from getting rusty.

Still, that's a hell of a D-League team with Young and Babb the forwards and Powell the center. Throw in Phil Pressey and they'd go undefeated. Hell Pressey may join the trio in Maine once Marcus Smart comes back healthy.

All in all, its better for these guys to be in Maine where they can get much needed experience and playtime and to be ready when their number is called. With Stevens going with a 10 man rotation every night, that leaves 3 guys out, at least now 2 of them will get playing time. Poor Gerald Wallace though

King James Leads Cleveland Past Boston (11/15/14)

The Celtics once again led by double digits going into the 4th quarter and at home. Once again they played zero defense and fell 122-121 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Its becoming a broken record how awful the Celtics defense truly is, especially in the 4th quarter. That's on coaching as much as it is the players. When you're not ready to make adjustments with the game on the line, you fail as a coach. In the 4th quarter Kyrie Irving and Lebron James took over. The Celtics used a balanced attack to counter but without any rim protection, you can't win. With 5 minutes left it was 114-106 Boston and Jeff Green went for the kill shot....and missed the 3 badly. James got the rebound and Irving fired a 3, the Celtics rebounders were so lazy Irving got the rebound back and dumped it to Shawn Marion for a 2. The Celtics called time and Jared Sullinger hit a shot to make it 116-108 with 4 minutes left, all they needed was defense. Marion hit a layup and Sullinger traveled. Joe Harris made a 3 and Evan Turner got called for traveling. Two turnovers 30 seconds apart. Love missed a shot, Rondo got the rebound and hit the shot to keep the lead 118-113 with 2:29 left. With the game on the line, Lebron hit a bucket with 2 minutes left, Rondo missed, Kevin Love got the rebound and James hit again to cut the lead to 1. Avery Bradley fumbled the ball out of bounds for their 3rd turnover in as many minutes (they had 14 total) and the refs gave James a shady foul call on a nearly uncontested layup. Evan Turner got whistled and James hit the free throw to give the Cavs a 120-118 lead. Once again, all they needed was a basket and Olynyk fired up a three that missed badly, rebounded by James. Olynyk got called for the foul at the other end and Kevin Love made one of two free throws, 121-118. Needing a 3 to tie the game, Love alertly fouled Sullinger who hit the first free throw but conked the second. Luckily the refs made up for their earlier call on Turner by calling a loose ball foul on James when Jeff Green got the rebound. By the way, this is the first time I've mentioned Jeff Green meaning he did absolutely nothing to this point when the game was slipping away. Green did manage to hit the two free throws to tie the game with 43 seconds left, but, as usual....James was "fouled" by Rondo with 36 seconds left. Still, James bricked the second free throw and Sullinger gobbled up the rebound with 35 seconds left trailing 122-121. Rondo then fumbled the ball out of bounds for yet another turnover with the game on the line. Irving went for the kill shot but missed the layup and Bradley got the rebound with 7 seconds left. Rondo got the ball and held it....and held it...and held it...ERRRRRRRRRRRR! Didn't even get a damn shot off and the game was over.

                                             The president's powerful message to Rondo

Now time for the bawful report. Offensively the team really played well, hitting 54% as a team. Once again the problem was defense, especially in the 4th quarter. Kevin Love had a double-double, Lebron James scored 41 and Kyrie Irving had 27. Point guards are just lighting this team up, so much for Avery Bradley's defense. The only 3 players who didn't make double figures (that got in the game) were Dwight Powell, Tyler Zeller and Rondo. Which leads to the nightly awards. Vitor Faverini and Marcus Smart get checkmarks for the Ellison while Gerald Wallace, Phil Pressey and James Young get checkmarks for the Scalabrine. Dwight Powell made his NBA debut by logging just 2 seconds on the floor, earning an ultra rare SUPER MARIO GALAXY!

                                                  What a way for Powell to make his debut

Jackass of the night is easy, Rajon Rondo. Mr. Triple Double did have 16 assists and 8 rebounds but a paltry 6 points on 3 of 10 shooting with a crucial turnover when it counted. Also, not getting a shot off when the game was on the line is inexcusable. Kyrie Irving also hung 27 on him.

                                                 Way to go Jackass

Were there any positives? Again, offensively everyone played well except Powell. Kelly Olynyk had 21 points, 6 rebounds and an assist. Jared Sullinger had a double-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists. Rondo had 16 assists and 8 rebounds. Avery Bradley had 12 points, 2 assists and 5 rebounds. Jeff Green had 19 points 3 rebounds, an assist and a steal. Evan Turner had 12 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Brandon Bass had 12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Marcus Thornton had 12 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. Tyler Zeller hit 4 of 5 shots for 8 points.

Final Thoughts:

Another home loss that should have been a win. Once again the team played no defense and was out-hustled down the stretch. You have to wonder if they're listening to Brad Stevens or if his style doesn't work with them. They're pretty much firing at will and have no set direction on a style of offense. They still don't have the one guy that can take a game over because Rondo is a lousy shooter and Jeff Green doesn't have the heart. Maybe Ainge will trade for or draft a legit "cleaner" as Tim Grover would say. For now, this team can't play defense and they're getting out-worked. That's not a recipe for success. Also, why do they not play James Young? Is he not getting the playbook or did he tell Stevens to screw one day? There has to be a reason Stevens has gone Doc Rivers on him. Maybe we'll find out soon. Next game is Monday night at the Garden against the Phoenix Suns. Another team that can't play defense...yippie.

Early Season Bawful Report (11/13/14)

What is going on ladies and genitals this is our early season bawful report. There's only been 7 games and there's going to be some personnel that won't be there at the end, but here's how it looks so far.

Vitor Faverini has been leading the charge for the Ellison Award for missing all 7 games rehabbing from knee surgery.

Dwight Powell has yet to get in a game whether its his 5 Ellison checkpoints or 2 Scalabrine checks.

Phil Pressey has been close to useless by racking up 3 Scalabrine's and a +5 suck differential

Gerald Wallace has 3 Scalabrine's, 3 trillion and a Hero of the Night, talk about up and down.

James Young is the current frontrunner for the Scalabrine with 5 of them.

Rajon Rondo has a Hero of the Night and a checkmark for the Ellison.

Marcus Smart has 2 checkmarks for the Ellison

Jeff Green and Evan Turner are tied with 2 Jackass of the Night awards apiece, only Turner has a Hero of the Night to go with it.

Marcus Thornton has one checkmark for the Ellison.

  Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley, Tyler Zeller and Brandon Bass have yet to garner an award...that's both good and bad. After all, Hero of the Night is a good thing.

So for those keeping score. Vitor Faverini has a commanding lead for the Ellison with 7 missed games. Dwight Powell is second with 5, Marcus Smart has 2 with Rondo and Thornton bringing up the rear with 1 apiece.

James Young is the current leader for the Scalabrine with 5 DNP-CD's, next is a two-way tie for second between Gerald Wallace and Phil Pressey with 3 apiece, then Dwight Powell with 2.

There hasn't been a Mario or Hamilton yet which is more to do with coach Brad Stevens refusing to play the bench in garbage time than it is bawful. Not having a Hamilton is good for the players, bad news for this blog.

Gerald Wallace is the one and only frontrunner for the Richest Man in Basketball Award with his 3 trillion.

Phil Pressey is the one and only frontrunner for Bawful Player of the Year with a +5 suck differential....although that award may change after some careful deliberation with the scholars.

Evan Turner and Jeff Green are tied for Jackass of the Year with 2 apiece.

Rajon Rondo, Evan Turner and Gerald Wallace are in a 3 way tie for Hero of the Year.

Celtics Blow 15 point lead to Oklahoma City's JV Team (11/12/14)

I thought Houston was bad, I thought Toronto was worse....but THIS has to be the worst loss of the young season so far. The Celtics bolted to an 18-3 lead at home to an Oklahoma City Thunder team missing Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The same team also nearly beat the Celtics by 30 last year so revenge should have been on the Celtics' minds. Instead the opposite happened, OKC outscored the Celtics 106-76 the rest of the way and ran them off the court for a 109-94 victory.

 

How did it happen? Once again the defense sucked. Reggie Jackson....yes THAT Reggie Jackson who led Boston College in scoring 4 years ago torched the Celtics for 28 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds. Anthony Morrow was 11 of 16 from the field for 28 points and 5 rebounds. That's 19 of 31 shooting between the two of them. As a team, OKC was "held" to under 50% shooting only because of their dreadful start. Even Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka were hot from the field in the second half. Rajon Rondo returned from the screw surgery and was impressive in the first half, but seemed to not want to play D in the second.

There seems to be a serious problem developing. The team is playing absolutely no defense and after the game, coach Brad Stevens claimed his team showed no effort at all. Don't believe me?

Look at this:

Its only 7 games in the season but the Celtics have the 4th worse defense in the league and so far Stevens looks like a total clown. He refused to abandon the 3-ball which led to 1-25 shooting against Houston and nearly repeated that in Dallas. They were 5 of 20 from one point against OKC. Also, he called that timeout against Chicago with 0.2 seconds left that his own team was looking at him like "what the hell, man?" Everyone knows Rajon Rondo is uncontrollable, Doc Rivers left town because of it. Evan Turner is also a known headcase. If those two aren't going to listen to Stevens, other veterans such as Marcus Thornton and Gerald Wallace probably won't either. That's not good.

                                        "WHY WEREN'T YOU AT ELF PRACTICE????"

Here's a segue into the bawful report. Which Jeff Green showed up tonight? That's easy....this one:

Mr. Hyde for sure. Green was a pedestrian 4 of 14 shooting for 14 points, 5 rebounds and an assist, he also committed two turnovers. I don't know why he hasn't been traded yet because team leaders are supposed to take over a game. He doesn't. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and even Paul Pierce to an extent would take over when things were going down. Criticize Bryant all you want but for better or worse he's going to want the ball with the game on the line. Green doesn't have that killer instinct and it killed them against OKC.

Avery Bradley was just 7 of 19 shooting including 2 of 9 from 3 point range. Basically the Celtics have two guards that can't shoot, how are they supposed to win? Kelly Olynyk had just TWO, count em, two rebounds in the game. Know why? OKC couldn't miss....can't grab rebounds when the shots go in. Pathetic defense by Rondo, Evan Turner, Phil Pressey and Bradley led to Jackson and Morrow shooting the lights out. Once again the bench failed to impress. Evan Turner was just 1 for 4 shooting in TWENTY minutes of court time. How do you only shoot 4 shots when you're on the floor for 20 minutes? Also, if you're trying to restore your reputation, shouldn't HE have a killer instinct? James Young was brought in for 3:31 and hit the only shot he took. Why is that bawful? Young himself isn't, the fact Stevens only used him for 3 minutes is. There has to be a reason why the kids not playing but they're not saying why. Gerald Wallace missed a 4.43 trillion by grabbing a rebound, which also negated the Fernsten as he had one foul. Tyler Zeller narrowly missed a Hamilton by hitting a shot, getting a rebound and dishing out an assist to negate 3 fouls and a turnover. Now for the nightly awards.

Marcus Thornton also sprained his ankle but it was much less severe and he did it in practice Tuesday. He joins Marcus Smart and Vitor Faverini for checkmarks for the Ellison. Dwight Powell is back from D-League (all he did was participate in a scrimmage against former alumni Chris Babb) and activated so he gets a checkmark for the Scalabrine. Phil Pressey earns the first suck differential of the season by bricking 4 times and committing a turnover for a +5.  Jackass of the Night is easy, Jeff Green.  As the Thunder struck, pun intended, Green went into hibernation. This is supposed to be their big scorer and he disappeared down the stretch. Tim Grover, the legendary personal trainer would be aghast by Green's reluctance to take a game over. He's obviously not a cleaner.

                                             Better hide your face Jeff, you're Jackass!

Were there any positives? Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk had solid but not spectacular games. Sully posted a double-double of 14 points, 11 rebounds and fell four assists short of the triple. Olynyk had 14 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists. Rajon Rondo narrowly missed a triple double with 20 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds plus 2 steals. Avery Bradley had 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block. Brandon Bass hit two free throws and the only two shots he made. Can't really crap on him if he didn't make a mistake.

Final thoughts:

This one stinks. The Thunder were playing their third game in four nights, the second night of a back to back...on the road...without Westbrook and Durant....and still murdered the Celtics. Not only that but the coach is saying the team showed no effort. Once again they were dreadful from three 9 of 33 and Stevens refuses to change anything. The mark of good coaches is to adjust when things aren't working. Combined with the Houston game, that's 10 of 58 shooting a 3 in those two games alone, you gotta be kidding me. Also, the point guards are lighting up the Celtics....and guess who's up next this Friday? Lebron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Good grief...they may lose by 40.

Smart Out, Powell Gone, Rondo Returning, Award Named (11/9/14)

Got three pieces of news today. First thing's last:

The word on Marcus Smart is better than expected. He's only going to be out 2-3 weeks instead of the season when he originally was carried out on a stretcher. This is why they kept Phil Pressey and signed Evan Turner because now they're going to have to earn their paychecks. In Pressey's case, he was an undrafted rookie free agent last year, if he sucks they can easily go get someone out of the d-league to replace him. If he wants to stay on the league he'll have to step up.

                                                   Time to step it up boys
Which leads me to the next part, Dwight Powell won't be joining Pressey on the team. He was demoted to the Maine Red Claws of the D-League to get him some playing time. This was a good idea since he hadn't been in a game yet and they already have a plethora of forwards on the roster. Injuries are going to pop up during the course of the season so we may Dwight again some day. With Dwight technically no longer on the roster, they're down to 14 players. With Vitor Faverini and Smart out, this leaves James Young as 12th man. There has to be a reason why he's been riding the bench so far this season. Maybe he'll join Powell in the D-League too? Oh and guess who's already on the Red Claws roster, last year's underdog Chris Babb.

                                                                So long Dwight

Third piece of news is Rajon Rondo is coming back Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The surgery he had was standard practices for hand injuries and he'll be rested and ready to go. Mr. Triple Double at home against the Thunder who will be without Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Let that sink in for a moment.

                                                         Al's reaction to Rondo returning

Last is the DNP-CD award has finally been named. After careful deliberation with some of earth's well known scholars, it has been decided that the award will forever be known as.......*drumroll*.....THE SCALABRINE

                                       Sitting on the bench in warmups, perfect for the award

Yes, the DNP-CD award will now be called the Scalabrine Award. With Powell down in the D-League and Smart injured, they're down to 12 healthy bodies so unless coach Brad Stevens REALLY hates James Young, we may not see one until Powell or Smart comes back.

That's it for today's news, have a pleasant evening.

Undermanned Celtics Defeat Undermanned Bulls (11/8/14)

Going into the early season schedule, this should have been a loss for sure. Facing the Bulls on a second night of a back to back in Chicago? Then the team was going to be without Marcus Smart AND Rajon Rondo? Turns out the team has more balls than anyone thinks as they rallied together for a 106-101 victory. It also helped that Derrick Rose was also out with injury.

The good news is Marcus Smart is NOT out for the season, at least not yet. So far x-rays have been negative meaning his ankle is only sprained. Rondo was out for tonight's game because he was having a screw removed from his hand. Since the Celtics are off the next two days, he figured it would be better to miss one game than multiple. So no Rose, no Rondo and no Smart meant an epic battle between Evan Turner and Kirk Hinrich. Somehow, Turner won the battle. The Bulls jumped out to a 25-20 lead after one but the Celtics put their foot on the gas to outscore the Bulls 36-16 in the second quarter. How? The Celtics FINALLY played some defense....for one quarter at least. You would think the Celtics would fall apart in the 3rd....they didn't. They outscored Chicago 27-26 in the 3rd to lead 83-67.  THEN the Bulls started to come back. Once again the Celtics couldn't slam the door but this was due to exhaustion more than anything. Coach Brad Stevens refused to go 12 man deep on the bench even without Rondo and Smart. Guess who led the Bulls comeback? THIS GUY:

                                                   26 points, 8 assists...where was that last year?

Yessire Bob, Aaron Brooks....AARON BROOKS replaced the ineffective Hinrich and had 26 points and 8 assists. The Celtics still led 95-78 with 6:06 left before the wheels fell off. Brooks hit a floater, Turner missed a shot and Jimmy Butler grabbed the rebound. Butler then scored on an alley-oop from Joakim Noah. Green then nailed a wide open 18 footer to make it 97-82 with 5 minutes left. Butler missed a shot and Olynk gobbled up the rebound...only to be called for traveling with 4:24 left. Brooks hit a fallaway and Green was stripped by Hinrich. Butler's next shot missed and Olynk picked up another rebound but was called for an offensive foul which wiped out a basket. Who picked up the charge? You guessed it, Aaron Brooks. Pressey entered the game for Turner and Noah hit a putback to make it 97-86 with 3:33 left. Zeller was stripped by Hinrich and was given a timeout much to the chagrin of Brad Stevens who claimed he never has possession. The refs were caught up in the emotion as Noah bullied by Green to tip home a miss by Brooks to make it 97-88 with 3 minutes left. Sullinger entered back in and missed a shot, rebounded by Noah. Brooks bricked a deep three but the ball landed in Noah's hands who tipped it around until Brooks got a second chance for a 3 and buried it with 2:15 left. Stevens called time with 2:03 left and what was once a 95-78 lead was down to 97-91 in just 4 minutes. On commentary Brian Scalabrine said somehow, someway SOMEBODY has to make a play. Evan Turner stepped up by burying a jumper with 1:49 left. Brooks answered with another 3 due to shoddy defense from Bradley. Turner missed, Olynyk missed the tip and Butler came down with the rebound as the United Center crowd went wild. Brooks was fouled by Olynyk with 1:02 left. Aaron hit both free throws to cut the lead 99-96. Olynyk was fouled shooting by Gasol and Kelly bricked the first. He did hit the second to make it 100-96 with 45 seconds left. Brooks drove right by Pressey and hit a layup with 37 seconds left. Brooks by himself damn near erased a 17 point lead. With the game on the line, Turner missed a layup but Olynyk grabbed the rebound in traffic and threw it out to Bradley. Turner was fouled by Brooks with 17 seconds left. Evan calmly hit both free throws. Butler missed on the other end and Olynyk got the rebound. Brooks fouled out and Olynyk hit the clutch free throws to make it 104-98.

     Then the game got really stupid. Gasol hit a meaningless shot at the buzzer and was fouled, but the refs had to review if he got it off in time. A hundred hours later they decided it counted and Gasol hit the free throw to make it 104-101. Then for some reason Stevens took timeout to draw up a play. Even his own players were like "What are you doing?" The game was over really....there was less than a second left.  All you had to do was inbound the ball. Sure enough, they got it in to Green who was fouled by Butler with .2 seconds left. Green hit the final 2 free throws and thankfully that was it. 106-101 the final. Good grief, if you want to make the game shorter...how about eliminating some timeouts and overcoaching?


Bawful report:

Thankfully not much. Phil Pressey sucked a fat one as he was just 1 for 7 from the field for 3 points plus was abused by Aaron Brooks, although he did have 4 assists, 3 rebounds, a steal and a block. Gerald Wallace just missed out on 13 TRILLION by hitting a free throw and getting a rebound. Why Brad Stevens also needed to take a timeout to draw up a play with 0.8 seconds left when all someone had to do was inbound the damn ball is anyones guess. Now for the nightly awards. Rajon Rondo, Vitor Faverini and Marcus Smart all get checkmarks for the Ellison. Dwight Powell graduated from the Ellison to the DNP-CD and was joined by James Young. Still don't know why James Young isn't getting any playing time unless he's goofing off at practice. He better not be the next Joe Forte.

Were there any positives? A lot actually. The Celtics shot 51.7% as a team against a Tom Thibodeau defense.

                                                           "We sucked tonight"

They also shockingly out-rebounded the Bulls 45-38 even with Noah and Pau Gasol. They also owned a 20-15 free throw advantage. Marcus Thornton lit it up off the bench with 11 points and a rebound. Tyler Zeller stepped up with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Jared Sullinger had a quieter game than usual but still had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Kelly Olynyk had another double-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds along with a block and an assist. Avery Bradley had 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and a block. Brandon Bass wasn't great but had 7 points, 2 rebounds and a steal. Our hero of the night was also the last two jackasses, Evan Turner.

                                                       Hero of the Night

Turner had 19 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, shutting down Hinrich in the process. THIS is the kind of performance expected out of a number 2 overall pick. Lastly, which Jeff Green showed up?
This one's a toss-up. He had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals....which is pretty much average given his level of talent, but it was on par with the team effort last night. We'll call this a No-Decision.

Final Thoughts: Yes the Bulls were missing Rose but the Celtics were also down Rondo and Smart, so in essence the Celtics showed more guts than Chicago. They faded down the stretch again but this time they had to make the shots they needed to. They shot 51.7% from the field, hit most of their free throws and won on the road on the second night of a back to back. Aaron Brooks was unstoppable and that's more on Turner and Pressey's defense than it was anything else. Still, a win is a win by any means necessary. This puts the Celtics at 3-3 on the season and the next game is this Wednesday night against Oklahoma City. Normally I'd say that's a loss, but the Thunder are missing both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. If there was a time to beat them, it would be now.

Celtics Win Game, Lose Smart (11/7/14)

Its bad enough the Celtics almost lost at home to yet another undermanned team, but they really lost something bigger when Marcus Smart rolled his ankle on a driving layup with 11:07 left in the 4th quarter. Winning the game is one thing, but losing Smart for possibly the season really hurts a team that needed his defense, athleticism and spark. Without him, they're pretty much the same exact team as last year just with Tyler Zeller, Evan Turner and Marcus Thornton. In other words, lottery.

                                        Goodbye Smart and any hope of a winning season

How did they almost lose the game? Once again they played no defense until the very end. Even with David West, George and CJ Miles out, the Pacers still shot the lights out. The worst part is the Celtics only led 88-82 with 6:33 left. They got completely out-rebounded by the Pacers which led to second and third chance opportunities. Phil Pressey replaced Smart and his floater with 4:50 left gave the Celtics a 92-86 lead but a Hibbert runner cut the lead to 4. A Bass jumper made it 94-88 with 4 minutes left but Hibbert hit another big shot that was actually well defended. Sullinger answered with a 3. Another offensive rebound and a shot by Sloan made it 97-92 with 3:04 remaining. ANOTHER turnover by Pressey gave the Pacers the ball back with 2:50 left. Hill airballed a three and a hustle play by Rondo saved a possession which led to Olynyk turning the ball over anyway. A Hibbert offensive rebound and putback cut the lead 97-94 with 90 seconds left. Sullinger missed a 3 which led to a Kelly Olynyk foul. Sullinger played Hibbert straight up and fouled him shooting. Roy hit both free throws to cut the lead 97-96 with 58 seconds left. Jeff Green missed the clutch shot AGAIN but Rondo got the rebound...only to miss himself. The Pacers took timeout with 35 seconds left but Sloan missed the layup, rebounded by Bradley. Celtics coach Brad Stevens took timeout to get his free throw shooters in there. Bradley missed a shot but Jeff Green got a HUGE rebound and was fouled. With a chance to extend the lead, Green hit the first shot.....and the second to put the C's up 3 with 6 seconds left. The ball came into Sloan and Bradley fouled him with 3.7 seconds left. Sloan hit both free throws to cut the lead to 1. The ball was foolishly inbounded to Avery Bradley who was fouled with 2.9 seconds left. With the game on the line, Bradley hit the first.....and the second. 101-98 and the Pacers used their last timeout. The ball was inbounded to.....Gerald Wallace who stole the ball to win the game. Yes, they WON the game...what???

Bawful report:

Hate to dump on someone who is potentially out for the year, but before he got hurt, Smart had a bad game. He was just 1 for 6 shooting with a personal foul. Avery Bradley conked 8 shots, turned the ball over twice and fouled twice as well. As a team they turned the ball over 12 times and almost allowed yet another 100 point game. Jeff Green bricked 7 shots, turned the ball over 3 times and fouled once. Rajon Rondo missed 6 shots, turned it over 3 times and fouled twice. Marcus Thornton played just 7 minutes and took just 4 shots, missing two of them. The Celtics took 27 three's and missed 18 of them. As for the nightly awards, Dwight Powell and Vitor Faverini get checkmarks for the Ellison Award while James Young gets a checkmark for DNP-CD. Lastly, a pack of fans banged on the window outside the post-game show conducted by Brian Scalabrine. The zombie apocalypse was after Scal! Run Scal run!

Were there any positives? Yes! First, Dr. Jekyll showed up tonight.

Jeff Green had 15 points and 7 rebounds and an assist. After Smart went down, Jeff stepped up. Tyler Zeller scored 6 points and grabbed 2 boards in just 12 minutes. Phil Pressey stepped up big with 5 points, 4 assists, a rebound and a steal. Evan Turner redeemed himself from the last 2 games with 8 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. Brandon Bass kicked ass with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. Jared Sullinger had a team high 17 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Kelly Olynyk had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Avery Bradley had 11 points, 3 rebounds and an assist. Hero of the Night is tonight's thief, Gerald Wallace.

                                                   "I'm hero of the night, bitch!"

Wallace hit 2 clutch free throws, grabbed a rebound and got the key steal that won the game. From WAY above courtside you could hear the voice of Johnny Most scream "WALLACE STOLE THE BALLLLLL!!!"

Final Thoughts:

Talk about a double whammy. Indiana was missing Paul George, David West, CJ Miles and Rodney Stuckey and the Celtics won by just 3 points. The worst is they lost Marcus Smart who when last updated, was being wheeled out of the Garden with his foot in a boot. If he's done for the year or out a couple months, this team's headed to the lottery. Remember, this is almost the exact same team as last year with Zeller replacing Kris Humphries, Marcus Thornton replacing Chris Johnson, Evan Turner replacing Chris Babb and James Young replacing Jerryd Bayless. I'll say the new guys are upgrades over the previous, but that's maybe 5-10 wins which means they'll win 30-35 instead of 25. Still, that leaves plenty of opportunities for bawful. The 2-3 Celtics now travel to Chicago tomorrow night to play Derrick Rose and the Bulls. Good grief they may lose by 30.

27 Turnovers Lead to Doom (11/5/14)

The Boston Celtics shot 51.7% from the floor, had a THIRTY ONE rebound advantage, Rajon Rondo had a triple double, they were home facing a Toronto Raptors team without their second best player and on the second night of a back to back.....and lost.

How did this happen? By once again playing zero defense, Evan Turner stinking up the place, Jeff Green again missing the tying shot....and turning the ball over TWENTY SEVEN times. The Celtics are now 1-3 and each loss was a new way to lose. The first in Houston they shot 1 for 25 from three, the second in Dallas they were down by 31 and tonight they led by 16 but turned the ball over frequently. What was a 35-23 1st quarter lead turned into a 110-107 defeat.

Tonight's game was brought to you by butterfingers

 

Once again the Celtics shot the bell well enough but Kevin Lowry torched Rondo and Turner for 35 points. Yes, the same guy who Memphis got rid of BEFORE they got good torched the Celtics. The game came down to the wire but some huge mistakes led to their doom. One of them was Marcus Smart going for the Reggie Miller shot where he sticks his leg out on a 3 pointer with a defender onrushing. Only problem is Smart's a rookie so obviously the ref was going to call an offensive foul. At least Smart redeemed himself with a big 3 to tie the game with a minute and change remaining. After a rare Lowry miss, Smart got the rebound with 37 seconds left......then was picked clean by Lowry who fed Damarcus DeRozan who scored a basket and got fouled by Olynyk. Then Lowry made the alert play to foul Rondo with 29 seconds left. Rondo made the shot to cut the lead 108-107 but Lowry hit the big shot to put the Raptors up 3 with 8 seconds left. Green then missed a three at the buzzer and that was it. 28 turnovers.....

Even Kermit can't stand the turnovers

Bawful report:

Jeff Green fouled 3 times, turned the ball over 4 times and missed 7 shots including the big one at the buzzer. Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley combined for 9 turnovers. Marcus Smart bricked 5 shots, turned the ball over 4 times and fouled 4 times. The supposed knock down shooter Marcus Thornton took just 3 shots and bricked twice along with turning the ball over once. Brandon Bass took just 3 shots and bricked two of them and fouled twice. Evan Turner was almost totally useless with five turnovers, 4 fouls and a brick. If he was a big man he would have earned a Hamilton. Tyler Zeller offset 3 rebounds with 3 fouls and was just a foul or turnover away from the Hamilton. Tonight's nightly awards are the same. Dwight Powell and Vitor Faverini get checkmarks for the Ellison while Phil Pressey, Gerald Wallace and James Young get another DNP-CD. At this point I have to wonder why Wallace is on the roster if they're not going to use him?  Jackass of the Night is easy for a change. Evan Turner in a landslide. The former number 2 overall pick would have been a 9-4 Hamilton with 9 turnovers/fouls with 2 points, a steal and a rebound.

                                                          "Look at me, I'm Jackass again!"


Was their anything positive? Yes, Jeff Green scored 20 points with 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists and a steal. Kelly Olynyk responded with 18 points 13 rebounds and 2 assists. Jared Sullinger had a big game with 19 points,16 rebounds and an assist. Rajon Rondo had a triple double (13 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds) and Avery Bradley had 16 points, a rebound and a steal. Marcus Smart had 12 points, a rebound and a steal.


Final Thoughts:

Another loss that should have been a win. This game proves Jeff Green isn't good in the clutch and they can't play defense worth a damn. Any team with a good defense...meaning mostly everyone in the league is going to beat this team. They may be lucky to win 25 games at this rate. Friday night the Indiana Pacers are in town without Paul George, but as we saw tonight, teams can still miss guys and beat the Celtics.

Time to name the DNP-CD Award poll (11/4/14)

After careful deliberation with some of the most well known scholars the planet has ever seen, its only fair to name the three finalists for the DNP-CD award. Here are the finalists

1. Rick Carlisle

                                               Rick's saying "What?? Me?? What for??"

Rick collected a championship ring as a member of the Celtics bench in 1986 and was on the roster in their near misses in 1985 and 1987. Look at the key words there, "bench" and "roster". Rick played in just 38 of 82 games in 1985 and 42 of 82 in 1987. He did manage 77 games including a start at the end of the season but that was only for about 9 minutes a game. So does only playing in 80 games out of 164 offset a ring and becoming one of the most successful coaches of this generation? You be the judge.


2. Greg Kite

                                                 "I'm in the game! Look! Its the ball!"

Kite was around the same time as Carlisle only he collected TWO rings and was around a little bit longer. He played just 35 of 82 games his rookie year (1984) and 55 of 82 the following. He did gain notoriety by being the third string center behind Robert Parish and Bill Walton in 1986 which led to 64 out of 82 games. The following year with Walton out with injury, Kite played nearly a full schedule with 74 games played. He played in just 13 games before being released in 1988. His last bit of legacy, he was the starting center for the 1992 Orlando Magic. That alone prompted the Magic to draft a fella by the name of Shaquille O'Neal to replace him the following year.  So, does 2 championship rings off-set being pretty much a 2nd-3rd string bench warmer for 4 1/2 years? You decide.


3. Brian Scalabrine

Scal with a mean looking scowl on the bench....as usual

He's now a cult figure in Boston but originally he was a high priced free agent that was supposed to fill the void left by Antoine Walker at the power forward position.......Hey! Get off the floor! I know its funny but its not THAT funny! Yessire Bob, THIS GUY was supposed to be the answer to Antoine Walker and the mentor to Al Jefferson going into the 2006 season. He did manage to get into 71 games but averaged TWO POINT NINE points a game. In other words he was being paid 2.5 million dollars to score a single basket per game. You know how many former players all fat and out of shape would love to waddle onto the court and hit a single basket for 2.5 million these days? Well Scal did and he was neither fat or out of shape. The following year when Tankapalooza 1 was going on he played in just 57 games. The following year when the new big 3 reigned supreme Scal played in just 49 games, getting dropped on the depth chart in favor of old veteran PJ Brown and rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis. He barely played at all in 2009 even after Kevin Garnett was lost for the season, just 39 games but did make it to the playoffs. 2010 was the final year for Scal as he ended his Celtics career on the Forum floor in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after just 52 games during the regular season.  So, out of the possible 410 games played between 2006-10 he got in just 264. The final 3 years included 2 trips to the NBA Finals. So consider Scal the Greg Kite of his era. Does the championship offset being a bench warmer with a 2.5 million dollar contract? I don't think so.


Now to be fair, its not like these guys were hurt (well sometimes they were). They were perfectly capable of playing in the games they were active for. Still,  their suckage was so bad that coaches KC Jones and Doc Rivers decided it was best not to play them. So that's why I have to give the nod to Brian Scalabrine myself. He was paid so much to do so little. At least Kite was never supposed to be the next Robert Parish and was never paid anywhere close, same with Carlisle. For Scal to become a cult hero in the same fashion as Sam Horn, for the money he was paid, I'd say that's bawful enough for this award. So there's your 3 finalists.....whoever gets the most votes will get the award named after him.

Carlisle, Kite or Scalabrine? Hmmmmm

Amazing Comeback Falls Short (11/3/14)

The Dallas Mavericks were so hot they led 40-19 after the first quarter. By midway through the second quarter their entire frontcourt had not missed a single shot. The Mavs led 67-41 at halftime and other than Jeff Green, the Celtics as a whole looked ready to mail it in judging by their body language. With all that said, would you believe Avery Bradley had a chance to TIE THE GAME with 39 seconds remaining? Yessire Bob, the Celtics pulled within 112 to 114 before being unable to finish the deal. A valiant effort just fell short as the Mavs pulled it out 118-113.

Things went bad right from the get go. The Celtics played literally no defense. Most of Dallas' shots were uncontested leading to Chandler Parsons and Devin Harris raining down long range bombs on them. They had no rim protection so Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki had free roam under the boards. That's going to be a problem for much of the year as the Celtics are simply too small with the team they have right now. The main problem, once again, was in the first half the Celtics kept firing up 3 pointers that didn't go in. Radio announcers Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell noticed the Celtics body language wasn't good. They were down 26 at the half, time to go home right?

                                 An angry Celtic fan is ready to give up his season tickets

WRONG! I thought Brad Stevens was the right guy to coach this team but I had to question that when his team went 1 for 25 on three's against Houston. Any good coach realizes that if something's not working, change your strategy. Well Stevens didn't and he got blown out in Houston and was heading toward another one in Dallas. There was one silver lining though, the GOOD Jeff Green showed up. He was the only one making anything happen in the first half and Stevens let him loose in the second half. Green and Rajon Rondo teamed up to lead the comeback trail. Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley pitched in. The key to the second half comeback was they finally started putting their hands in Dallas' faces. Guess what.....IT WORKED! Suddenly it didn't seem like every Dallas starter was going to score 30 on them. The Celtics ended up hanging 38 points on them in the 3rd quarter and was down 91-78 to begin the 4th. Not great but definitely in range considering they trailed by THIRTY ONE with 4 minutes left in the second quarter. The C's continued to chip away but the Mavs always seemed to make the right play when they had to. Bradley's jumper made it 98-90 with 8 minutes left with momentum on their side, but Jameer Nelson's 3 put the Mavs back up by 11. Green's jumper with 4:47 remaining and Sullinger's layup with 4:15 left cut it 105-101. All they needed was a stop but Nowitzki caught Marcus Smart in a mismatch and got the foul and both free throws on him. Smart answered with a 3 to make it a one possession game but Nowitzky and Parsons hit 3 shots in a row to make it 114-104 with 2 minutes left. Time to go home right?

                                        Mr. Horse doesn't like Chandler Parsons' 3 pointers

Once again WRONG! Bradley hit a jumper with 1:47 left, Sullinger blocked an Ellis jumper and Green buried a three. A Bradley steal and subsequent layup made it 114-111 with 1:10 remaining. The Celtics had the Mavs on the ropes but they did just enough to survive. Nowitzki took a wild shot and Bradley gobbled up the rebound. Ellis then fouled Bradley shooting a 3 and had it gone in, Bradley's free throw would have given them the lead. First free throw.....money! 114-112. Next one.....CLANK!

                                          Picard can't stand to watch missed free throws

Bradley did hit the third free throw to make it 114-113 but the air was out of the ball so to speak.  All the Celtics needed was a stop but Ellis buried a jumper with 27 seconds left and Green missed a 3 with 20 seconds left. Ellis hit 2 big free throws and that was it....118-113. In the words of Mr. America "What a game!" Great game, too bad the wrong team won.

Bawful report:

The first half was as bawful as could get. Even in the second half, the Mavericks still put up 51 points despite Boston's mad dash to catch up with them. A few defensive stops near the end would have changed the complexion dramatically. Rajon Rondo was just 3 of 11 shooting with 5 turnovers by himself. Jeff Green missed 14 shots including 7 3's, the big one with 20 seconds left. Avery Bradley somehow couldn't guard Monta Ellis in the second half to save his life which led to the big buckets at the end. They also had 12 turnovers in the first half (thankfully only 5 in the second). Chandler Parsons also rained down points over Jeff Green and Kelly Olynyk couldn't hang with Chandler (10 points, 12 rebounds). Basically most of the game was played without Olynyk as he was in foul trouble early and often.  Brandon Bass was useless as he missed 3 shots, fouled and turned the ball over...narrowly missing the Hamilton by hitting two free throws. Olynyk had 5 fouls and 3 turnovers but narrowly missed the Hamilton by scoring 5 points with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. One of the big reasons the Mavs won was the bench strength. Dallas' bench led by former Northeastern Star JJ Barea had 32 points. Boston's bench had just 20. Jared Sullinger got abused by Nowitzki defensively as Dirk scored 27 on 9 of 14 shooting. Marcus Thornton, the supposed big scorer had ONE point coming on a free throw. Evan Turner had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists but you expect more out of the number 2 overall pick a few years ago. Marcus Smart missed some big shots and his foul on Nowitzki late in the game led to two big free throws. Now for the nightly awards.

Dwight Powell and Vitor Faverini got checkmarks for the Ellison Award while Phil Pressey and James Young gets checkmarks for DNP-CD. Gerald Wallace made his season debut and cashed in with a 2.58 Trillion.

Jackass of the night is extremely hard. No one played good in the first half and everyone contributed to the comeback in the second half. Do we blame Avery Bradley's missed free throw and subsequent Ellis jumper? Do we blame Jeff Green for missing the tying 3? Do we blame Rondo for a big offensive foul and going just 3 for 11 from the field? Do we blame coach Brad Stevens for refusing to part with the 3 ball when it wasn't working again? Do we blame the bench for stinking up the place? Do we blame Olynyk getting in foul trouble or do we blame Jared Sullinger's defense on Nowitzki? Believe it or not...I'm going with EVAN TURNER!

                                             "Look everybody I'm a jackass!"

Even though Brandon Bass and Marcus Thornton sucked, they were only on the court for 9 and 12 minutes respectively. Turner was on the court for 17 and missed 4 shots when Green was trying to rally the troops. Bradley, Green and Rondo played big roles in getting the game back in order and Smart pitched in with big plays, Turner did score 4 points and grab 4 boards but they needed more out of him. Shame on you Evan!

Were there any silver linings? How about which Jeff Green showed up tonight?

Dr. Jekyll showed up in a big way with 35 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He was also the only one that really showed passion (and that's a miracle in itself) when the game appeared to be out of reach. Avery Bradley, despite missing the big free throw, was brilliant. 32 points, 3 steals and an assist. Despite missing 8 shots, Rajon Rondo narrowly missed a triple double with 7 points, 9 rebounds and 15 assists. Jared Sullinger had 14 points and 7 rebounds while banging with Dirk Nowitzki most of the game. Marcus Smart was all over the place with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. Tyler Zeller played only 8 minutes but scored 6 points.

Final Thoughts:

It was a hell of an effort but a loss is a loss. Not only that, they still have yet to win a road game against the West with Brad Stevens as coach. Their record falls to 1-2 and it doesn't get any easier. This Wednesday night last year's Division champs the Toronto Raptors coming to town. The only bright side is Toronto will be on the second night of a back to back so hopefully the Celtics can run them off the court by the 4th quarter.

Rockets Lift Off as Celtics Crash (11/1/14)

There's an old saying that if you live by the 3, you also die by the 3. The Celtics didn't just die, they suffered a stroke, heart attack, liver failure and a brain hemorrhage before getting run over by the Houston Rockets in a 104-90 pasting in Houston that was never as close as the final score implies.

It was very easy to pinpoint how the Celtics lost this one. They shot 25 three pointers and connected on....wait for it.....ONE.  Yes, ONE FOR 24 SHOOTING A THREE. The NBA record for futility beyond the arc was 0 for 22. The Celtics were 0 for 21 when Jeff Green let one loose.....and it went in. The one time fans didn't want it to go in and it did. Even though the game would have turned out different, had the Celtics hit even hit a few here and there, it would have been far more interesting than the blowout in turned into. I'll say it one more time...ONE FOR 25 shooting 3's.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Celtics played swiss cheese defense in the 1st quarter. The star of the game was not Dwight Howard, James Harden or even Trevor Ariza. No, the Celtics were done in by the immortal TERRANCE JONES!

                                             Even James is shocked of who beat the Celtics

Don't get me wrong, Howard and Harden played extremely well. Howard had 14 points, 8 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Harden had 26 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block. Still, you EXPECT numbers like that....what you don't expect is 25 points and 10 rebounds out of Terrance Jones. In terms of rebounds, the Rockets won the battle 49-44 but nearly every Rockets starter came close to 10.

Another factor that led to the downfall was clearly coaching. The Celtics were 0-fer shooting three's in the first half. Rather than scrap the plan and say "Hey guys let's try something else", coach Brad Stevens stuck to his guns and let his squad continue to fire blanks. It was 81-62 going into the 4th quarter and it was pretty much garbage time the rest of the game. Why Stevens refused to part with the Bombs Away Offense and simply attack the basket, we won't know.

As for the Celtics themselves, they were almost all bawful.  They shot 37.8% as a team and were outshot 40 to 18 at the line. Even thought the final score wasn't as close as it seemed, a 22 free throw advantage in a 14 point game is pretty big.

To answer the inevitable question on which Jeff Green showed up tonight, this face says it all.

Mr. Hyde showed up big time as he did have 17 points but missed 12 shots, fouled twice, turned the ball over once and got destroyed by Terrance Jones on defense.

Were there any bright spots? Jared Sullinger had a decent game when he wasn't jacking up 3's, he finished with 14 points 9 rebounds and picked up a tech for jawing with Dwight Howard. Radio announcers Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell said if Jeff Green could play as nasty as Sullinger does, he'd be unstoppable. James Young saw his first NBA action and went 3 for 3 with 6 points along with a rebound and a block. Tyler Zeller had 8 points and 4 rebounds which is pretty good for the circumstances. Marcus Thornton, Brandon Bass and Evan Turner combined for 25 points which normally would be good production, but again...the 1 for 25 on three's and all. It was nice to see old friends Kevin McHale and Jason Terry again as well. If the Celtics had to lose, at least it should be to old friends. Also Nick Johnson for the Rockets got his first NBA rebound tonight. Guess who his uncle was.....this guy:

Bawful report:

Everyone can be included here but not for the nightly awards. Phil Pressey saw his first NBA action and narrowly avoided a 3 Trillion by dishing out 2 assists. Marcus Smart narrowly avoided a +9 suck differential by hitting two free throws, pulling down a board and dishing out an assist. Rajon Rondo had 10 rebounds and 8 assists but scored just 4 points on 2 of 7 shooting and turned the ball over 5 times. Avery Bradley was just 3 of 11 shooting with 5 fouls and he let James Harden dance all over him. Kelly Olynyk had just 8 points and 5 rebounds as he was outplayed by Dwight Howard. The bench scored a combined 41 points but they also combined with the starters to miss 61 shots. Now for the nightly awards.

Vitor Faverini and Dwight Powell get checkmarks for the Ellison Award. Gerald Wallace collects another DNP-CD. Jackass of the Night is easy.....Jeff Green. As mentioned earlier, he missed 12 shots, fouled twice, turned the ball over and was walked all over by Terrance Jones. He's supposed to be the leader of this team but once again he failed to take the game over when things were getting out of hand.

                                              Jackass of the Night

Final Thoughts:

Well that was basketbawful to say the least. The Celtics haven't won a road game against the West since February 2013....which means a year a and a half ago. Still, the silver linings are once again the bench played well and it took astronomical amounts of suckage to go 1 for 25 from the 3 point line. The schedule is not kind at all to the Celtics in the early going. They had to play the Nets opening night, in Houston tonight, in Dallas on Monday, Toronto on Wednesday, Indiana on Friday, in Chicago next Saturday, against Oklahoma City on the 12th, against Cleveland on the 14th and against Phoenix on the 17th. 9 straight games against last year's playoff contenders (Phoenix missed the playoffs but went 48-34, would have been a top seed in the east). The Celtics would be lucky to be 3-6 by the time they roll into Philadelphia on the 19th. 
  As I mentioned before, their next game is Monday in Dallas. They may not be the same team that toppled the Heat in 2011 but they do have a good core in Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzky, Jameer Nelson, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons. It could come down to a battle of the benches to see who decides that one. It would be nice if the Celtics have more success with the 3-ball too.