Magic-Celtics Game 4: Celtics Proving to Be Playoff Mythbusters

After dethroning King James, and exposing the Orlando Magic, the Boston Celtics have been the flashlight revealing all the warts of the Eastern Conference’s upper class.

Their 94-71 Game 3 destruction of Orlando was particularly illuminating. Here’s what the Boston mythbusters have discovered.


Myth: Dwight Howard is an elite defensive center.

Truth: The Celtics suffered minimal defensive pressure from Howard. As a helper, he was frozen in his tracks on a pair of Rajon Rondo floaters that he was too timid to close out on. He also took a poor angle when showing and recovering on a screen leading to a Kendrick Perkins layup.

At times he was asked to defend Glen Davis or Kevin Garnett, where their range pulled Howard away from providing help defense at the rim. He would get stuck in no-man’s land and leave Garnett or Davis open for uncontested 20-foot jumpers. Even when guarding Kendrick Perkins, he was frequently late or non-existent in his rotations.

He also isn’t able to properly defend screens at the three-point line. On one particular play, he was so far off a Ray Allen screen that he realized too late that he needed to close out or Allen would sink a jumper. A sloppy closeout later, and Allen had blown by him and dunked.

While Howard has become better at defending low or middle screens, and is more timely in his rotations than in the past, he still doesn’t have the ability to play championship-caliber defense against premier offenses.

Myth: Vince Carter is the missing piece to Orlando’s puzzle.

Truth: Carter always was, and still is, Mr. Softee. His first shot attempt was on Orlando’s second possession of the game—a brainless early-offense three that bricked out. From there it only got worse.

Without clear lines to the basket, he’d drive partway to the hoop, pick up his dribble, and make forced bailout passes, killing precious seconds off the shot clock.

As usual, he was disinclined to take contact, and displayed exactly how non-competitive he is, when early in the fourth quarter, on a beeline to the basket with Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett converging on him, he eschewed going up strong by attempting a dipsy-doo reverse layup.

While Carter’s not a selfish player, his passing leaves much to be desired, and his defense—whether failing to maintain contact with Ray Allen around screens, or being torched in isolations by Paul Pierce, or making poor closeouts when defending Tony Allen driving after setting a screen—was repeatedly abused.

Hedo Turkoglu has his flaws and certainly had a miserable season with Toronto, but his vision and passing are better than Carter’s, his shooting is less affected by small guards closing out, and he plays with much more confidence. In truth, the Carter-Turkoglu deal has been a wash.

Myth: Jameer Nelson is a terrific pass-first point guard.

Truth: Nelson’s passing is made easier because defenses are often spaced out by Orlando’s shooting and Howard.

In trying to thread the ball through tighter quarters, Nelson’s lack of vision and comparatively sub-par passing skills have been attacked by Rajon Rondo. He made poor passes and poor decisions ad nauseam in Game Three.

Nelson’s best attributes have never been his passing and decision making, but have always been his moxie and his toughness, but against the Celtics he would rather pick up his dribble 14 feet away and look to pass when Boston wasn’t helping.

When Nelson is reluctant to make plays and provide the toughness Orlando needs, the Magic become a very ordinary basketball team, and looked that way in Game Three.

Myth: Orlando’s spacing will generate open looks for Rashard Lewis.

Truth: Boston’s ability to blow up screens by fighting through picks and showing hard prevents the Celtics from scrambling their defense in rotation. This allows help defenders to stay closer to their original checks.

This, combined with the range Garnett covers defensively, has forced Lewis to create his own offense, something he’s not adept at.

Myth: Matt Barnes is a tough, hard-nosed player.

Truth: His poor play may be excused by a bad back, but there’s no excuse for his cheap shot push on Kevin Garnett. Barnes may think he’s tough, but when he’s missing layups and getting routinely overpowered by Paul Pierce, it says otherwise.

Myth: Dwight Howard worked diligently on his offense this offseason.

Truth: His limited post arsenal led to all manners of clangs against the steadfast work of Garnett, Davis, Kendrick Perkins, and Rasheed Wallace. He missed his first five shots, and didn’t score until a failed Davis flop job awarded Howard with a dunk in the second quarter.

Howard’s offensive numbers were terrible considering what‘s asked of him—3-10 FG, 1-4 FT, 7 PTS.

Myth: The Magic are a great rebounding team.

Truth: Orlando’s rebounding numbers are inflated by Howard. With him sufficiently banged around inside—7 REB—the Magic only grabbed three offensive rebounds compared to Boston grabbing 39 defensive rebounds.

Myth: Marcin Gortat is a top-notch backup.

Truth: Gortat turned his head too often and is soft defensively.

Myth: Mickael Pietrus is an All-NBA caliber defender.

Truth: Boston posted him with Pierce to neutralize his athleticism. On the other side, because Boston’s closeouts have been textbook, Pietrus has only gone off from downtown in garbage time—2-5 3FG.

Myth: Jason Williams is a championship-hardened veteran.

Truth: Williams rode the coattails of Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, and James Posey to his NBA ring. He repeatedly made bad decisions with the ball and was absent on defense with Miami, and exhibited all his old bad habits in Game Three.

Myth: The Celtics are too old, too slow, and too far past their prime to contend for a title.

Truth: The competition of the playoffs has stoked the old fire. After falling behind to Miami by double figures in the opening game of the playoffs, the Celtics have rekindled their vaunted defense.

Rotations are alert and on time, hedges are hard, screens are always recovered to, and shortcuts are never taken. Offensively, the extra pass has always been the rule, and their versatility overwhelms opposing defensive shortcomings.

And whenever their play stagnates, Rondo is always able to make a sensational play.

The full extent of Boston’s desire was displayed when Jason Williams casually attempted to pick up a loose ball, while Rondo sprinted, dove, reached under Williams with one arm, grabbed the ball, got up, and scored a layup while Williams failed to contest the shot.

The Celtics are playing at a level only seen during the 2008 NBA Finals. With Orlando’s best players unprepared for championship-level basketball, only the Lakers stand in the way of a second title in three years.

Fortunately, there won’t be a long wait until that dream series comes to fruition.