Rashard Lewis has been suspended without pay for 10 games by the NBA because he tested positive for elevated testosterone levels.
Unfortunately, the Magic do not play the Celtics during the first ten games of the season. However, this is going to be a tight race in the East, and I'll gladly accept any turn of events that puts Orlando or Cleveland at a disadvantage.
Lewis says that he was taking an over the counter supplement that contained substances banned by the league, and his statement said that he hopes "every athlete can learn from my mistake that supplements, no matter how innocent they seem, should only be taken after consulting an expert in the field,".
Ordinarily, since Lewis plays for a rival team, I'd be screaming steroids here. However, Lewis has already told the press exactly what caused the positive test (DHEA). I'm much more inclined to accept the "taking a legal supplement not knowing it contained a banned substance" story when the athlete specifically states what it was that they took. It's only when they are vague in their explanation that I get suspicious.
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Friday, November 14, 2008
Chad Ford Breaks Down This Summer's Free Agents
Chad Ford breaks down the 2009 free agent class that has been flying under the radar with 2010 being the summer of LeBron. The Pistons will be about 40 million under the cap this summer and it will be interesting to see how much they're willing to spend. There are certainly some guys that could help them on this list, but I'd have to believe all teams that are in a position to spend big may want to play it conservative so as to give themselves a chance at the King.......sucks to be a free agent in 09.
Anyways, he breaks it down by unrestricted, restricted, and early termination/player option (but in reverse order).
Some names that stick out:
Chris Wilcox: Has been grinding away in relative anonymity, but impresses me every time I see him. Super athletic and effective both ends.
Ben Gordon: Would probably like to go to a team that allows it's leading scorers to start games.
Lamar Odom: Is just to good to be riding the pine for the Lakers. I'm not taking issue with Phil Jackson, but there are a lot of teams out there that would love to have this guy in their starting rotation. Obviously inconsistency and being sent to the bench in a contract year will cost him a lot of money.
Ron Artest: I would love it if the Pistons signed him. That would be the greatest storyline of the year. Not only would his style of play fit that city to a tee, but him playing 41 games a night in the Palace of Auburn Hills would be priceless. This has to happen.
Shawn Marion: It's unfortunate that injuries, questions about his motivation, and concerns about the fact that team success does not appear to be a high priority for him have all overshadowed his versatility and defensive brilliance over the past few seasons. Nevertheless, he will get paid. This is the kind of player teams want.
Sheed: As Chad said, it's unlikely that Sheed will be seeing top tier money. However, don't underestimate the impact he could have with a fresh start.
The Answer: AI can still put up points and assists with the best of them (see last night against the Warriors). But, the explosion that he has lost through the years makes it harder to look past his turnovers, low field goal percentage, and defensive shortcomings. He's still exciting, but the days of him taking the 76ers on his back and willing them to victory seem like a distant memory at this point.
Leon Powe and Glen Davis: Both are restricted, and I hope that both stay in green. Powe's not going anywhere. I can't imagine Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers would let Leon get away. I hope Big Baby will stay, but it's hard to know. If he keeps playing at a high level this season, somebody might be willing to overpay, and I can't imagine the Celtics would match if it's too much.
Charlie Villanueva: I am a UCONN fan, and I still don't know what the hype is all about. I've been hearing great things for almost a decade. All I see a guy that plays flat every night, is lazy on defense, and has no eyebrows. But, somebody will make him a big offer I'm sure.
The most intriguing names come from the list of players who have early termination options. That is where you can find Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Hedo Turkoglu, Eddy Curry, Al Harrington, and Jermaine O'Neal. Obviously, the plausibility of these guys leaving varies greatly. Kobe's not going anywhere (what a difference a year makes), Eddy Curry is almost certainly gone, Jamal Crawford has big money in New York but is playing well enough to possibly land in a more stable environment, and we'll have to wait and see with the rest.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wiz-Ards Opener
Ten thoughts from the Wizards home opener:
1) We lost to the Nets last night and despite having Vince Carter (who is still nasty by the way), the Nets should have been an easy win. But then again, the Wizards usually start off slow, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt here. The real test will be Saturday night against the Pistons, a team that will kill the Wizards unless they bring their "A-Game."
2) We paid Arenas way too much money. I hate to say that, but it's true. How can you reward a guy whose constantly injured with a 100 million dollar contract and then expect the franchise to thrive in the long-term? Maybe you pay Lebron or Kobe that kind of money, but this is Gilbert Arenas we're talking about here: unless he's healthy and passing the ball, he has very little potential to lead this team to a championship. I love the guy to death, but he is a supporting player at best on a team with rebounding and inside, post-play. Sorry, Gil. The Wizards don't have that.
3) We have to rely on youngsters because of Gilbert's injury, but they are still an unproven quantity. Blatche is good at times, but he still gets in trouble off the court; he also has problems putting fourth constant effort each night. Nick Young shows flashes of greatness, but like Blatche, he's very off and on during the 82-game grind. Maybe this year they will turn a page, but Andray is on season 4 and Nick has to start playing well immediately. Will that happen this year? I hope so.
4) Etan Thomas is back, but his poetry still sucks. Nothing new here.
5) Eddy Jordan will still make this team good, despite what everyone says about Arenas and the youngsters. Why? He is one of the best coaches in the NBA and he's also one of the classiest. So to say that the Heat will finish above the Wizards this year JUST BECAUSE they have D-Wade back, is frankly insulting. The Wiz-ARDS made the playoffs three years in a row despite having the worst possible injury situation you could imagine. Gilbert got injured, Caron got injured, and Antawn was constantly beaten-up. Yet the Wizards always played hard and pulled through thick and thin. You have Jordan to thank for that and I have no doubt he'll do it again. The Miami Heat, however, have no proven quantity at head coach, nor do they have a guarantee that Stoudemire will stay healthy or play consistent basketball. Even if Wade is dominant this year, there is no guarantee Udonis Haslem and Stoudemire will have what it takes to make this team good again. The Wizards, however, have a track record of three veterans constantly leading their team to the playoffs.
6) Caron Butler needs to have a career year and I expect him to do so...Tough Juice just needs to stay out of dance clubs at 3 AM before playoff games...
7) The Western Conference will be nasty this year, but the East has improved as evident by the Celts, the 76ers, the Raptors, Magic, and Wiz. Why do you think TNT is putting more Eastern Conference games on primetime this year?
8) As I mentioned above, Eddy Jordan is one of the classiest coaches in the NBA. His temperment is first class, he never uses foul language, he never unduly criticizes people or refs, and he never complains about his team's injuries or uses them as an excuse for his performance as a coach.
9) DC may get the trifecta this year -- good hockey, football, and basketball. This hasn't happend in my lifetime. But unlike Boston, I doubt they will win a championship and spoil every fan in this area for years to come.
10) Javale McGee is going to be nasty some day. He is 7 feet tall, runs the court well, passes, and has a 10-15 foot jumper. Not bad for a rookie.
1) We lost to the Nets last night and despite having Vince Carter (who is still nasty by the way), the Nets should have been an easy win. But then again, the Wizards usually start off slow, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt here. The real test will be Saturday night against the Pistons, a team that will kill the Wizards unless they bring their "A-Game."
2) We paid Arenas way too much money. I hate to say that, but it's true. How can you reward a guy whose constantly injured with a 100 million dollar contract and then expect the franchise to thrive in the long-term? Maybe you pay Lebron or Kobe that kind of money, but this is Gilbert Arenas we're talking about here: unless he's healthy and passing the ball, he has very little potential to lead this team to a championship. I love the guy to death, but he is a supporting player at best on a team with rebounding and inside, post-play. Sorry, Gil. The Wizards don't have that.
3) We have to rely on youngsters because of Gilbert's injury, but they are still an unproven quantity. Blatche is good at times, but he still gets in trouble off the court; he also has problems putting fourth constant effort each night. Nick Young shows flashes of greatness, but like Blatche, he's very off and on during the 82-game grind. Maybe this year they will turn a page, but Andray is on season 4 and Nick has to start playing well immediately. Will that happen this year? I hope so.
4) Etan Thomas is back, but his poetry still sucks. Nothing new here.
5) Eddy Jordan will still make this team good, despite what everyone says about Arenas and the youngsters. Why? He is one of the best coaches in the NBA and he's also one of the classiest. So to say that the Heat will finish above the Wizards this year JUST BECAUSE they have D-Wade back, is frankly insulting. The Wiz-ARDS made the playoffs three years in a row despite having the worst possible injury situation you could imagine. Gilbert got injured, Caron got injured, and Antawn was constantly beaten-up. Yet the Wizards always played hard and pulled through thick and thin. You have Jordan to thank for that and I have no doubt he'll do it again. The Miami Heat, however, have no proven quantity at head coach, nor do they have a guarantee that Stoudemire will stay healthy or play consistent basketball. Even if Wade is dominant this year, there is no guarantee Udonis Haslem and Stoudemire will have what it takes to make this team good again. The Wizards, however, have a track record of three veterans constantly leading their team to the playoffs.
6) Caron Butler needs to have a career year and I expect him to do so...Tough Juice just needs to stay out of dance clubs at 3 AM before playoff games...
7) The Western Conference will be nasty this year, but the East has improved as evident by the Celts, the 76ers, the Raptors, Magic, and Wiz. Why do you think TNT is putting more Eastern Conference games on primetime this year?
8) As I mentioned above, Eddy Jordan is one of the classiest coaches in the NBA. His temperment is first class, he never uses foul language, he never unduly criticizes people or refs, and he never complains about his team's injuries or uses them as an excuse for his performance as a coach.
9) DC may get the trifecta this year -- good hockey, football, and basketball. This hasn't happend in my lifetime. But unlike Boston, I doubt they will win a championship and spoil every fan in this area for years to come.
10) Javale McGee is going to be nasty some day. He is 7 feet tall, runs the court well, passes, and has a 10-15 foot jumper. Not bad for a rookie.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Nobody Beats the Wiz – Nobody!
At the risk of boring our audience, I’m going to do a quick synopsis of the Washington Wizards basketball team. My sense is that if you’re a fan of the NBA, it’s hard not to like the Wizards. And even if you don’t like basketball, but maybe you like professional sports, I still feel as though you can respect the Wiz and their story.
(I’ll go ahead and assume that most of our readers haven’t been following the Wiz this year. If you have been following them, I apologize for being repetitive, especially if you read the Washington Post. And If you don't like the Wizards or don't give a you know what, please just skip the post. I promise this will be the last post on DC sports for awhile)
The Team
In a nutshell, the Washington Wizards play unselfish, team basketball. They run a quasi-Princeton offense, score fast break points, rely on outside shooters, and generally don’t play post-centered basketball. While relying on outside shooters inevitably leads to off-nights, the Wizards are now playing much better defense than last year. Caron, Daniels, and Gilbert average around two steals per game, while Brendan Haywood anchors the paint with shot-blocking and attitude. As TMac pointed out the other night, a team can't always control the accuracy of their shooting, but they can control their defense. Improved defense by the Wizards therefore hedges them against nights when their shooting (their offense) is terrible.
The Wizards are always fun to watch, although some of the shots they take are sometimes foolish or unnecessary. Kobe pointed this out last year when he played the Wizards - he said something to the effect of, "the Wizards take about 2000 shots per game and most of them are goofy..." But three pointers are fun to watch and I won't complain if they continue to good.
Gilbert, when he’s healthy, runs the offense and he generally takes the majority of shots. One of the best things about Gilbert is that he has a flair for the dramatic, hitting at least three buzzer beaters from downtown in the past few seasons. When he’s playing well, teams are forced to double cover him, leaving Caron or Antawn open for points.
Caron and Antawn are prototype guard / forwards who can play a decent post game when they have mismatches. Caron’s three pointer is vastly improved this year, and Antawn has morphed into Dennis Rodman on the boards (he’s averaging over 10 boards this year). These guys are known as the Big Three in the league.
Generally speaking, I like to think of the Wizards as a team made up of three types of players – young guns, seasoned veterans, and role-players. What makes these sub sets interesting, however, is that over the past few years, each of these subsets have gotten dramatically better than the year before. And since they’ve been playing so well, this wholesale improvement has allowed the Wizards to develop young talent, maintain cap room, stay in the playoff hunt, and withstand injuries; very cool.
The Wizards have developed one of the best stable’s of young talent in the league. The Young Guns consist of rookies Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Oleksiy Pecherov, and third year player Andray Blatche; all of them are badasses. When Gilbert had his second knee surgery at the start of the season, the team suddenly had a void in both leadership and scoring. Remarkably the young guns filled that void with victories when the team needed it most. For example, the Wizards started their season losing five games in a row. Then, out of nowhere, Nick Young (a rookie) dropped 18 points on Portland, most of them in the fourth quarter, which lead to a Wizards’ victory. He then scored 11, 5 and then 18 points as the Wizards won three straight and snapped their losing streak. I could give you more examples (Blatche taking his game to new heights, McGuire becoming a rebounding machine, or Pecherov hitting key three pointers), but I will leave it with Nick Young and his amazing play off the bench thus far.
Aside from their young guns, the Wizards have a bunch of role players who turned into major contributors this year. The Role Players consist of Roger Mason Jr., Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, and Antonio Daniels (AD!). This group of players, in addition to the young guns, kept the Wizards afloat while they lost Arenas for the season, Butler for most of the season, and Jamison over key stretches of games. For those of you who didn’t read the paragraph above, these are by far the Wizards’ best players. This would be akin to the Celtics losing Garnett AND Allen for most of their season. No fun.
Thus far, the 2007 season highlights how the role players have moved into the team’s leadership sub-set. On any given night, one of the role players steps up and has a good game, which almost always keeps the Wizards competitive in close games. Take the entire group of role players and compare their stats from last year. Per game, almost every statistic is up – scoring, rebounding, steals, assists, blocks – you name it. (I may be wrong, but usually the NBA does not see a large group of players increase their stats across the board like this.)
This widespread improvement comes at a crucial time – despite injuries to their top players, the Wizards still have playoff hopes and may get the sixth seed which pitts them against the Magic and not Lebron at the 7th seed. This positioning is thanks to the role players and their improved play throughout the season.
Consider Brendan Haywood who used to really piss me off because he and Etan Thomas always fought. Brendan now gets serious PT thanks to an unfortunate heart problem with Etan. How has he responded to increased minutes? He’s averaging almost a double double, has close to 100 blocks, and provides fire and leadership under the glass; in other words, 100 times better than last year when he sulked on the bench. With Etan and Thomas sharing minutes last year, the Wizards never really had a presence in the paint. Now they do with Haywood since he blocks so many damn shots and talks trash. I love it.
The Seasoned Vets round out the Wizards, and they consist of the "Big Three" – Caron, Jamison, and Arenas. Antawn Jamison is a true leader who inspires his teammates and plays through injuries; he's been this way since college. Antawn, voted to his second All Star appearance this year, has been the heart and sole of this franchise while Gilbert has been getting all the press and adulation. Night after night Antawn plays hard and refuses to complain when the team is down on their luck. To date, I have not heard Antawn complain about the injuries to their team, nor have I ever seen him take a game off. Simply put, Antawn is a classy, professional guy who plays hard every single night. I also saw him driving around DC in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, blasting Master P, which was awesome.
Caron Butler is a huge badass, plain and simple. I mean, look at the tattoo of the grim reaper on his arm – who does that? For all you UConn fans out there, you know what I mean about Caron…this guy is a gamer and he always plays for keeps. The NBA recognized Caron with a second All Star appearance this year. A big part of his All Star vote was due to his improved three pointer. Caron improved his three through relentless off-season work with a shooting coach. (Incidentally, this shooting coach worked with the entire Wizards team and brough up the team's three throw percentage to top-five in the league.) The amazing part about Caron and the Wizards is that we got him for Kwame Brown, who went to the Lakers. This has to be one of the worst trades ever made, and I can promise you that the Lakers still regret this move.
Concluding Thoughts
If you had one word to describe the 2007 Wizards it would be “persistence.” Despite their bad luck, the Wiz simply refuse to give up and call it quits. Of course people will say, “every team goes through injuries.” But how many teams have their top three players injured two years in a row, yet still make the playoffs?
Some call it the Curse of Len Bias (a topic for another rainy day), but others call it the injury bug. Jamison, Caron, Arenas, Daniels, Haywood, Thomas, and Songaila have all suffered through injuries this year. Despite injury after injury, I still haven’t heard them complain or “mail in” games. Instead they continue to play hard every night and refuse to give up. If Kobe didn’t have Gasol, I promise you he would be whining about Bynum and crying himself to sleep every night.
Despite their injuries, the Wizards are good at beating Western Conference teams. They've beaten the Hornets twice, the Suns, the Clippers, the Mavs, and the Sonics. They've also beaten Boston twice, which no other team in the East has done so far (maybe in the entire NBA...stat please?).
Look for the Wizards to continue their heroic performance in the next 6 weeks. If we can continue playing .500 basketball, get Caron and Gilbert back in the lineup, and Philly starts to falter, the Wiz can lock up the 6th playoff position for an Orlando match-up.
(I’ll go ahead and assume that most of our readers haven’t been following the Wiz this year. If you have been following them, I apologize for being repetitive, especially if you read the Washington Post. And If you don't like the Wizards or don't give a you know what, please just skip the post. I promise this will be the last post on DC sports for awhile)
The Team
In a nutshell, the Washington Wizards play unselfish, team basketball. They run a quasi-Princeton offense, score fast break points, rely on outside shooters, and generally don’t play post-centered basketball. While relying on outside shooters inevitably leads to off-nights, the Wizards are now playing much better defense than last year. Caron, Daniels, and Gilbert average around two steals per game, while Brendan Haywood anchors the paint with shot-blocking and attitude. As TMac pointed out the other night, a team can't always control the accuracy of their shooting, but they can control their defense. Improved defense by the Wizards therefore hedges them against nights when their shooting (their offense) is terrible.
The Wizards are always fun to watch, although some of the shots they take are sometimes foolish or unnecessary. Kobe pointed this out last year when he played the Wizards - he said something to the effect of, "the Wizards take about 2000 shots per game and most of them are goofy..." But three pointers are fun to watch and I won't complain if they continue to good.
Gilbert, when he’s healthy, runs the offense and he generally takes the majority of shots. One of the best things about Gilbert is that he has a flair for the dramatic, hitting at least three buzzer beaters from downtown in the past few seasons. When he’s playing well, teams are forced to double cover him, leaving Caron or Antawn open for points.
Caron and Antawn are prototype guard / forwards who can play a decent post game when they have mismatches. Caron’s three pointer is vastly improved this year, and Antawn has morphed into Dennis Rodman on the boards (he’s averaging over 10 boards this year). These guys are known as the Big Three in the league.
Generally speaking, I like to think of the Wizards as a team made up of three types of players – young guns, seasoned veterans, and role-players. What makes these sub sets interesting, however, is that over the past few years, each of these subsets have gotten dramatically better than the year before. And since they’ve been playing so well, this wholesale improvement has allowed the Wizards to develop young talent, maintain cap room, stay in the playoff hunt, and withstand injuries; very cool.
The Wizards have developed one of the best stable’s of young talent in the league. The Young Guns consist of rookies Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Oleksiy Pecherov, and third year player Andray Blatche; all of them are badasses. When Gilbert had his second knee surgery at the start of the season, the team suddenly had a void in both leadership and scoring. Remarkably the young guns filled that void with victories when the team needed it most. For example, the Wizards started their season losing five games in a row. Then, out of nowhere, Nick Young (a rookie) dropped 18 points on Portland, most of them in the fourth quarter, which lead to a Wizards’ victory. He then scored 11, 5 and then 18 points as the Wizards won three straight and snapped their losing streak. I could give you more examples (Blatche taking his game to new heights, McGuire becoming a rebounding machine, or Pecherov hitting key three pointers), but I will leave it with Nick Young and his amazing play off the bench thus far.
Aside from their young guns, the Wizards have a bunch of role players who turned into major contributors this year. The Role Players consist of Roger Mason Jr., Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, and Antonio Daniels (AD!). This group of players, in addition to the young guns, kept the Wizards afloat while they lost Arenas for the season, Butler for most of the season, and Jamison over key stretches of games. For those of you who didn’t read the paragraph above, these are by far the Wizards’ best players. This would be akin to the Celtics losing Garnett AND Allen for most of their season. No fun.
Thus far, the 2007 season highlights how the role players have moved into the team’s leadership sub-set. On any given night, one of the role players steps up and has a good game, which almost always keeps the Wizards competitive in close games. Take the entire group of role players and compare their stats from last year. Per game, almost every statistic is up – scoring, rebounding, steals, assists, blocks – you name it. (I may be wrong, but usually the NBA does not see a large group of players increase their stats across the board like this.)
This widespread improvement comes at a crucial time – despite injuries to their top players, the Wizards still have playoff hopes and may get the sixth seed which pitts them against the Magic and not Lebron at the 7th seed. This positioning is thanks to the role players and their improved play throughout the season.
Consider Brendan Haywood who used to really piss me off because he and Etan Thomas always fought. Brendan now gets serious PT thanks to an unfortunate heart problem with Etan. How has he responded to increased minutes? He’s averaging almost a double double, has close to 100 blocks, and provides fire and leadership under the glass; in other words, 100 times better than last year when he sulked on the bench. With Etan and Thomas sharing minutes last year, the Wizards never really had a presence in the paint. Now they do with Haywood since he blocks so many damn shots and talks trash. I love it.
The Seasoned Vets round out the Wizards, and they consist of the "Big Three" – Caron, Jamison, and Arenas. Antawn Jamison is a true leader who inspires his teammates and plays through injuries; he's been this way since college. Antawn, voted to his second All Star appearance this year, has been the heart and sole of this franchise while Gilbert has been getting all the press and adulation. Night after night Antawn plays hard and refuses to complain when the team is down on their luck. To date, I have not heard Antawn complain about the injuries to their team, nor have I ever seen him take a game off. Simply put, Antawn is a classy, professional guy who plays hard every single night. I also saw him driving around DC in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, blasting Master P, which was awesome.
Caron Butler is a huge badass, plain and simple. I mean, look at the tattoo of the grim reaper on his arm – who does that? For all you UConn fans out there, you know what I mean about Caron…this guy is a gamer and he always plays for keeps. The NBA recognized Caron with a second All Star appearance this year. A big part of his All Star vote was due to his improved three pointer. Caron improved his three through relentless off-season work with a shooting coach. (Incidentally, this shooting coach worked with the entire Wizards team and brough up the team's three throw percentage to top-five in the league.) The amazing part about Caron and the Wizards is that we got him for Kwame Brown, who went to the Lakers. This has to be one of the worst trades ever made, and I can promise you that the Lakers still regret this move.
Concluding Thoughts
If you had one word to describe the 2007 Wizards it would be “persistence.” Despite their bad luck, the Wiz simply refuse to give up and call it quits. Of course people will say, “every team goes through injuries.” But how many teams have their top three players injured two years in a row, yet still make the playoffs?
Some call it the Curse of Len Bias (a topic for another rainy day), but others call it the injury bug. Jamison, Caron, Arenas, Daniels, Haywood, Thomas, and Songaila have all suffered through injuries this year. Despite injury after injury, I still haven’t heard them complain or “mail in” games. Instead they continue to play hard every night and refuse to give up. If Kobe didn’t have Gasol, I promise you he would be whining about Bynum and crying himself to sleep every night.
Despite their injuries, the Wizards are good at beating Western Conference teams. They've beaten the Hornets twice, the Suns, the Clippers, the Mavs, and the Sonics. They've also beaten Boston twice, which no other team in the East has done so far (maybe in the entire NBA...stat please?).
Look for the Wizards to continue their heroic performance in the next 6 weeks. If we can continue playing .500 basketball, get Caron and Gilbert back in the lineup, and Philly starts to falter, the Wiz can lock up the 6th playoff position for an Orlando match-up.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Statement Made
Well, it's official, the Celtics are playoff-bound. They also now have a five game lead and the tie-breaker over Detroit for the top spot in the East. Maybe we all knew after the first pre-season game in Italy that this was a playoff team, but with a group this good, I'm not going to take anything for granted. I want to enjoy every step of the process.
Last night was an important win for many reasons. Perhaps the most significant is that the Celtics really answered the bell for the first time in a while. Ever since KG went down, this team has lost the dominant form that it had during the first 30 or so games of the season. It seemed like a little bit of the swagger was missing. The Celtics showed us last night that they still have that higher gear that they can shift to if need be. You can't expect a dominant performance every night. It's a long season. But last night was the most important game this team has played in over a month, and they played with a sense of urgency from the moment they stepped on the floor. They had to. Ray Allen was 1-9 from the field, and still I never felt for one second like we were going to lose this game. Much like the first two matchups, this felt like a playoff game.
I can't say enough about the way that Rajon Rondo has developed this year. The guy is going to have a great future. He has all the skills and all the intangibles that you could want from a point guard. He played up to Chauncey Billups' level for the whole game last night, and his drive and dunk on Richard Hamilton (on which a flagrant foul should have been called) gave us the shot of energy that we needed. He's scrappy on defense, he pulls down offensive rebounds, he's a great passer, and he's turning into a very effective scorer. Our offense takes a noticeable halt whenever Eddie House comes in. I'm very excited at the prospect of having Sam Cassell come in and spell Rondo while House plays the 2 spot.
Finally, last night was vintage KG. He was hitting shots from all over the court, adjusting shots on defense, and he showed no ill signs of his injury. This was the best game that he has played in a while, and I can't wait to see him in the playoffs. The most impressive moment for me came right after Rasheed Wallace had commited his fourth foul. KG took it at him, made a sick move to get Wallace of his feet, and forced foul number five. Because he had just gotten his fourth on the last play, the most important thing on Sheed's mind at that point was probably not commiting a fifth foul, and KG's moves are so good that he had no choice. While we're on the subject of Sheed, he played great last night. This Pistons team is well-seasoned, and they're not going to go away quietly. If last night's energy and intensity (Ray Allen elbowing Rip in the throat, Rondo getting slammed to the court) are any sign of things to come when these teams lock horns in the playoffs, this will be one of the best series in recent memory.
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