Notes on the Boston Celtics

I intended to write this post before the news of Kevin Garnett's continued injury woes surfaced. However, I got distracted and now its inevitable that Doc Rivers' recent take on the situation, "It's just not progressing the way we anticipated it would progress" will linger over the entire post. But here goes.

- Mike Gorman and the ABC crew have done a great job pointing it out, but it deserves my attention. Eddie House has been outrageously hot from deep. Dating back to January 12th, over a 36-game stretch, he's gone 79-152 from beyond the arc. That's 52%. In one 4-game strech he went 7-11 (Miami), 0-1 (Orlando), 7-11 (Dallas) and 8-9 (Sacramento). Factor in the entire Eddie House experience and it has been tremendous to watch. Though I'm rightfully concerned by the Stephon Marbury/House pairing on the defensive end, it's nice to see the former ASU star get minutes at the 2, run off screens, and get it done.

- As well as House has shot he's got nothing on Paul Pierce, who has had some fantastic stretches. I know the game went to overtime and Dwyane Wade didn't suit up, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Pierce was lights out against Miami. He pulled a similar effort in defeat the previous night in Chicago. He's evolved into a tremendous weapon from around the free throw line. Yet Pierce still takes it to the rack and gets to the line. And when KG made his short lived return the Truth immediately worked to get Garnett back in the flow of the offense. Pierce's growth as a player has been rocky and ultimately rewarding.

- A while back Mike Gorman's disdain for Carmelo Anthony's game came through in Boston's trip to Denver. Gorman went as far to say that he wouldn't trade a bag of balls for Anthony. Ignoring the obvious salary cap issues with the proposed deal I was somewhat bothered by the commentary. First of all the Celtics broadcast crew is widely considered to be the most biased in the entire Association. Tommy Heinsohn and Donny Marshall see to that. So I've always relied on Gorman to stay above the fray, provide some objectivity and keep the broadcast from falling into an unmitigated Celtics love fest. That's particularly the case when Marshall is on the air as Heinsohn has earned the right to do whatever he wants given his decade long assocication with the organization. Furthermore, I don't entirely agree with Gorman's assessment. Yes, he knows the players better than I do and has the best seat in the house. However, Carmelo can flat out score. And though he's made it into the headlines for his fair share of idiocy, it's way too early to cut ties with the former Syracuse star. Just look at Pierce's growth and maturation process.

- I might be in the minority on this one, but I was a little disappointed to see Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury running around in the numbers formerly worn by Big Al and Antoine. Granted the C's have a lot of unavailable numbers. And Jefferson and Walker didn't exactly have the most distinguished careers. I just felt that same way I did when I first saw Rocco Baldelli's rocking Nomar's #5. I'd feel better if those numbers were taken by better players or guys with a future in Boston. In the end it's really a minor thing. More importantly Moore's love of personal fouls and Marbury's inconsistent play have concerned me. Still it's hard to join a team late in the season and there are signs of both guys coming along. And no matter what happens Marbury took a charge against Tim Duncan of all people. True story.

- I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Stan Van Gundy. I tend to agree that he's one of the better coaches in the NBA. I follow the line of thinking that the Shaq feud was pretty one sided and unnecessary on the Diesel's end. Van Gundy's defense of Patrick Ewing/shots at the Knicks caught me off guard. However, it's always admirable to see a head coach try to get his assistants to the next level. In fact it's something that probably doesn't happen enough. So ultimately my hesitation on Van Gundy comes down to 2 things.

1. We'll never know exactly what went down, but he was bounced in Miami by Pat Riley who then took the Heat all the way. Does that happen with Van Gundy? Once again we'll never know. And while Van Gundy has clearly bounced back well, it does linger at least somewhat. Maybe that's just me.

2. Van Gundy was recently critical of Boston and its injuries excuse: "I want to know how some teams get on the list, where they get excuses and other teams are not on that list. All I've been hearing about is all the injury problems the Celtics have had this year." Is he right? Maybe. Still there's no denying that losing KG, Leon Powe and as weird as it may sound Brian Scalabrine has had a noticeable impact. The C's are incredibly thin at the 4 and by extension the 5 as some of the aforementioned guys get minutes at center as well. Factor in Rajon Rondo's ankle issues and that's a legitimate excuse. At the same time every team has injuries. Off the top of my head LA (Andrew Bynum), San Antonio (Manu Ginobili), Orlando (Jameer Nelson), Cleveland (Ben Wallace), Milwaukee (Michael Redd), Philadelphia (Elton Brand), and Washington (Gilbert Arenas) come to mind. The list goes on.

Ultimately I always prefer the Bill Belichick style refusal to even acknowledge injuries. And of course Van Gundy is doing his job attacking the bullies in the East. It just makes me want to see the C's drive the dagger through the Magic even more. That's it for now.