There are times when the best cure for an ailing team is adversity—even if conventional wisdom states the opposite.
If you were to ask a team if they’d rather break out of a funk by beating up on one of the league’s doormats in the comfort of their own arena—or doing it on the road, without their best player, and against one of the league’s elite teams—it’s a safe bet to assume they would opt for the latter.
Those were precisely the circumstances for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night in Boston. The Rockets, playing without Tracy McGrady, had lost six of their last ten games, including their last three.
Meanwhile, the Celtics were hoping some home cooking would be all they needed to halt their own mini-slump. The world champs came into the game having lost five of their last seven, but their 13-game winning streak at home was still alive.
Yao Ming had 26 points and eight rebounds, Ron Artest had 17 points and Aaron Brooks scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Rockets to the 89-85 victory.
It’s easy to say that the loss to the Lakers on Christmas put the Celtics into their current funk, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. If the Lakers did anything, it was take a little shine off of the Celtics and remind the rest of the league that Boston could be beat.
The main reason for the Celtics' poor play of late has more to do with their starting backcourt, lack of bench scoring, and failure to execute down the stretch than anything the Lakers might have exposed.
Since the Celtics don’t have as much depth this season than they did with James Posey and P.J. Brown, teams are beginning to realize that you can allow Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to get their points as long as you limit Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.
In the Celtics’ six losses, Allen and Rondo have averaged about six fewer points per game than their combined season average of 29—including three games in which Rondo scored only three, five, and six points total.
In the two losses out of the six in which Allen and Rondo combined to score more than 20 points, the Celtics’ bench was outscored 29-9 in one game and 34-19 in the other.
The only issue that should concern the Celtics is that four of the six losses came against teams missing important starters. The Warriors were playing without Jamal Crawford, Corey Maggette, and Monta Ellis. The Blazers were missing Brandon Roy. The Bobcats were without Raja Bell, and McGrady missed the game against the Rockets.
Paul Pierce had 26 to lead the Celtics, who next play against the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday night—the same type of “adversity game” the Rockets had in Boston on Wednesday night.
Lone Granger Strikes Again
Danny Granger knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Indiana Pacers the surprising 113-110 victory over the Shaq-less Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday.
The Pacers led 95-86 heading into the fourth quarter, before both teams decided to start playing defense for the final twelve minutes.
Granger scored 37 points to lead Indiana. Mike Dunleavy added 14 points in 21 minutes for the Pacers in the first game he’s played after missing the first 34 games of the season.
5 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Michael T. Penn 5 months ago
Thanks I enjoyed this article.
Even though I think both Andris Biedrins and Marcus Camby are more Allstar worthy than Shaq this year, I agree it would be great to see him Phil Jackson and Kobe together again. Especially considering this is probably the last time there's a chance of that happening.
Edit Comment Cancel
Zina Zaflow 5 months ago
Great article, kid. As always...
Edit Comment Cancel
Erick Blasco 5 months ago
I don't think its a stretch that Indiana makes the playoffs. They play good ball, and they've had bad luck with injuries and not having a playmaker. I think Dunleavy makes a huge difference for them, and they're schedule is much easier down the stretch.
Milwaukee and New Jersey are both decent teams but I don't think either of them is going to finish much higher than 500 this year and the Pacers are only a few games back.
Edit Comment Cancel
Andrew Ungvari 5 months ago
I agree. They've already beaten the league's best and their only going to get better with an easier schedule. They're the typical eight-seed that will push a team to the distance--much like Atlanta last year. The town is starved for playoff basketball. The building will be electric.
I like Milwaukee too but not as much. Not only am I not sold on New Jersey but I wouldn't be surprised to see them make another trade. Wouldn't it make sense for them to try to trade Harris to Portland for two or three of their young guys like Bayless, Rodriguez, and Webster? I wouldn't take Diogu or Frye because those guys are free agents. They need all the cap space they can get for 2010 and Harris' value will never be higher than it is right now.
Edit Comment Cancel
Erick Blasco 5 months ago
You know, the Nets might think that Harris is a real-deal kind of player who can play with (insert free agent here) and take them to the next level. He's improved a lot. He's a bit tougher now on defense and his step back has become scary good. I know New Jersey wants to dump salary ,but they might also be thinking that Harris would be better than everyone Portland would offer that's expendable.
If that's how the Nets go, then they'll have a point guard in 2009, a center in Lopez who can be a solid option, whatever free agent they'll sign, they should get a starter for dumping Vince Carter on somebody, and whatever Yi, Sean Williams, and the useful bench players the Nets can trade.
Would Bayless, Webster, Fernandez, or Outlaw be guys who would make the Nets an attractive place for a free agent to sign in '10? Or would the Nets only be able to sign a lesser star (say an older Dirk Nowitzki?) I don't know how all the contracts match up either because RealGM is being silly with me.
But I do know that Harris is starting to look less like a chip and more like a keeper, especially since Vince Carter is playing well and dumb teams like the Clippers still exist (Mardy Collins and Fred Jones for Vince Carter? Hey, what's another big contract for a one-dimensional scorer!)
Either way, I think New Jersey's hot start has put them in a tough spot because now they won't know if they should tank the season or try to honestly make a serious run at the playoffs.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.