Kendrick Perkins is on arguably the best team in the NBA, and by all accounts, the decision to trade Perk to Oklahoma City in a deal for Jeff Green really did not pan out.

He’s a multi-millionaire with a rich, long-term contract. He’s a former NBA champion.

Sure, life is great for Perk…unless we’re talking about what Blake Griffin did to him Monday night.

Watch the carnage (after the jump):

© KC Downey for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Featured, NBA, Video.

Russell Westbrook hit a pair of key three-pointers in the game’s final two minutes, part of a 26-point night that lifted the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Boston Celtics, 97-88. Kevin Durant added clutch moments of his own, and leading everyone with 28.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points. Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal each recorded double-doubles with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and 12 and 11, respectively.

Monday’s game was Kendrick Perkins first game back in Boston since being traded to Oklahoma City last February for Jeff Green. Perkins finished the game with seven points and five rebounds.

The TD Banknorth Garden crowd gave Perkins a standing ovation when his named was announced in the starting lineups. Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers gave Perkins a big embrace before he took the court for the opening tip. Perkins spent his first eight seasons in the NBA with the Celtics.

Celtics Tie it in the Third, Can’t Hang in the Fourth

The Celtic’s trailed by seven at the half. Five minutes into the third quarter, the Celtics tied the game at 57 following a pair of O’Neal layups. The Thunder increased their lead to 10 before the Celtics cut the lead to two on a Pierce three-pointer with five and a half minutes remaining. The hot fourth quarter shooting of Durant, Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha was too much for the Celtics to handle, however, as the trio shot 5-for-6 from downtown in the game’s final five minutes.

Mickael Pietrus had his best game as a Celtic, recording 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Pietrus scored 12 points in the 4th quarter including three clutch three-pointers when the team needed a lift on offense. Rajon Rondo had 12 points, missing his second triple-double of the season by just an assist and a rebound.

The Celtics had an encouraging game on the glass, out rebounding the Thunder 48-40. The Celtics also recorded 15 offensive boards, but turnovers that killed Boston Monday night as the Thunder scored 24 points off 19 Celtics’ turnovers.

The Celtics have now lost five in a row for the first time since acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of 2007.

Hopefully a struggling Toronto team will be the cure to the Celtics’  losing woes, as they host the Raptors Wednesday evening.

© Nathan for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Teams, Top Story.

Sports of Boston concludes its free agency preview with a look at the front-court players available.

Last season the Celtics’ went into training camp with four serviceable big men to patrol the middle. Shaquille O’Neal is now retired. Kendrick Perkins is kicking it with his buddies Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Semih Erden is in Cleveland trying to keep Baron Davis away from cheeseburgers. That leaves Boston with Jermaine O’Neal as their only true center.

Last season, O’Neal appeared in just 24 regular season games because of injuries. If the Celtics’ want to challenge for a title once more with the current group of guys, they’re going to need a few more big men to patrol the paint.

Below are a few bruisers that could really help this year’s Celtics team guard the painted area.

Forwards and Centers

• Kris Humphries

Yes, he has a cloud of drama and distractions that come with him, but K-Hump can rebound. Humphries is coming into his prime, has increased his stats and has improved his decision-making every year he’s been in the league. He’s a hustle player who doesn’t back down and attacks the glass on both ends of the floor. Humphries averaged 10 rebounds and a block in 27 minutes a game last year for the Nets. If he can be had for the mid-level, he’s worth it.

• Kurt Thomas

Thomas will likely be the oldest player in the NBA this season – just don’t tell him that. Thomas is as tough as they come: an old school power forward/center in the mold of Dale Davis, Charles Oakley, and Dennis Rodman. He hits the glass and he hits opposing players. At 39 years old, Thomas still played a valuable role in Chicago’s remarkable, injury-plagued season last year. When Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah came down with injuries last season, Thomas was able to step in and start 37 games for the Bulls. He plays team defense and he doesn’t back down.

• Kyrylo Fesenko

Teltics can’t afford Samuel Dalembert, Tyson Chandler, Nene, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, or Greg Oden. That’s unfortunate, because they really need some size and depth at center. At 7’1″, 280 lbs., Fesenko is huge. And at 24 years old, he is also young. He isn’t going to give you much on offense, but his size makes him an excellent defender. According to ESPN’s John Hollinger, the Utah Jazz were 11.9 points better per 100 possessions on defense with Fesenko on the court last season. With injury-plagued Jermaine O’Neal slotted as the Celtics’ starting center, adding Fesenko for insurance could be a wise move.

• Reggie Evans

If there is one thing Evans can do, its replace the toughness Perkins took with him when he was traded last season. Widely regarded as one of the meanest players in the league, Evans always has his teammates’ backs. He is one of the best rebounders in the league, but also one of the worst offensive players. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports the Celtics have serious interest in Evans. None of the big men available in the Celtics’ price range are perfect, but they could do a lot worse than Evans.

Other Possibilities: Spencer Hawes, Jeff Foster, Aaron Gray, Carl Landry, Alexis Ajinca, Craig Smith, Leon Powe

© Nathan for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion, Rumors.

It’s become an annual NBA offseason gala event, the Rajon Rondo trade rumors. In a way it makes a lot of sense: Rondo has a ton of potential, but at the close of every season he leaves fans and management wondering if he is truly a piece you can build a championship team around.

There have been a whirlwind of rumors over the last 3 days. Let’s sort them out.

The Rumors

SI.com reported Tuesday that Celtics’ GM Danny Ainge was “highly motivated” to acquire Chris Paul, the New Orleans Hornets’ four-time all-starpoint guard,. Sport’s Illustrated’s Sam Ammick confirmed that the Celtics and Hornets had discussed a Rondo-for-Paul swap.

ESPN the Magazine’s Ric Bucher said Wednesday that New Orleans wasn’t interested in a straight swap of the all-star guards. New Orleans made it clear that a third party would have to enter the scene in order for them to ship Paul off to Boston. According to reports, old friend Larry Bird and the Indiana Pacers then got involved.

Yahoo! Sports’ reported that a potential deal  had apparently been hashed out between the Pacers and Celtics:

The Pacers and Celtics have discussed the preliminary framework of a deal, but two sources said Indiana would need a third team to provide Boston with the talent it wants to do a deal. The Celtics are likely trying to gather the necessary pieces to make a bid for Ainge’s ultimate target: New Orleans point guard Chris Paul, sources said.

It is believed that the NBA, the current owners of the Hornets, will be reluctant to sign off on a deal that sends Paul, the face of the franchise, anywhere. Indiana’s package would have revolved around guards George Hill and Paul George, several lesser players, and draft picks. While George is certainly a coveted player after his performance against Chicago Bulls’ guard Derrick Rose in last spring’s playoffs, he isn’t yet the type of player that would do what New Orleans needs most, fill seats.

ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported later on Wednesday that Paul’s camp said that in the event a trade was in place that would send the point guard to Boston, he would refuse to sign an extension with the team. This report essentially killed any notion that a deal could evolve around Paul for Rondo swap.

While it killed the suggestion of a Paul for Rondo swap, the news Paul was unwilling to come to Boston didn’t kill the rumors that Rondo was being shopped. Broussard also reported that Ainge had called Oklahoma City Thunder GM, Sam Presti, following the playoffs to offer Rondo and Jeff Green for Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins . Sam Presti turned it down and made it clear that Westbrook could not be had.

Finally, from ESPNBoston’s Chris Forsberg came this report:

The Boston Celtics have no intentions of trading point guard Rajon Rondo, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday, adding he wasn’t sure where the rumors insinuating he wanted to acquire New Orleans star Chris Paul originated this week.

Ainge said of the situation, “Rondo will be fine, Rondo knows that we love him. He knows that we like him. He’s excited to come back and play basketball, in my opinion. He gets a lot of attention. He’s a great player. There’s a lot of people that call me and ask me about Rondo. So, how these rumors get out, it’s unfortunate, but we didn’t leak those rumors out.”

The Reaction

So, who and what do we believe? Trade rumors and speculation are certainly part of sports journalism, and ‘sources’ can pop out of anywhere with exclusive info that spreads like wildfire but are grounded in very little fact. But some of Danny Ainge’s past moves and non-moves suggest he might not always known what’s best for his team, organization and fanbase. We remember the Ray Allen for Monta Ellis talks. How about the Rondo and Allen to Detroit rumors?

If there is one thing all these rumors tell us, it’s that Danny Ainge will talk. Chris Paul is a super star, and he wants to go to the Knicks to play with his friends. The Knicks are in the same conference and division as the Celtics, and already have two superstars in their respective primes. I would be shocked if Danny Ainge didn’t attempt to prevent Paul from even attempting to join the Knicks.

Are the Celtics shopping Rondo? Probably not. Does Danny Ainge hit the phones every couple months to test the market for all his players? Yes.

You can’t really blame him. After all: he’s the GM of an NBA team. He’s “highly motivated” to do so.

© Nathan for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Rumors.

Former Celtics star Kendrick Perkins was arrested Saturday morning, in relation to a drunken altercation at a club in his hometown of Beaumont, Texas. Perkins was there to host for his annual youth camp and foundation fundraiser, aiming to help kids learn life skills and to raise drug-awareness. Perhaps this is not the best approach. Here is the report according to the Beaumont Police Department:

On Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 2:05 AM Beaumont Police officers noticed a large crowd outside a club called “The Ticket”, at 3684 College.  Many of the people leaving the club were holding their faces and complaining of fights and pepper spray inside the club.  When officers went inside they observed the staff of the club trying to get everyone to leave.  According to the arresting officer, he observed a subject later identified as Kendrick Perkins having a disturbance with the management of the club.  The police Sergeant advised there were approximately 50 people gathered around Perkins as he was attempting to fight the manager.  The crowd was able to push Perkins out the back door of the club where he stopped and continued to yell obscenities.  Several officers attempted to quiet Perkins and to get him to leave the property.  Perkins continued with the obscenities and was trying to fight several other people in the crowd who were apparently trying to help.  The arresting Sergeant advised that due to several indicators, it was clear to him that the subject was intoxicated to the degree that he was a danger to himself or others.  He was arrested for Disorderly Conduct (language), and for Public Intoxication.  He was transported to the Jefferson County Jail and booked on those charges without further incident. 

Interestingly enough, I was told by a local sports network that Perkins was unable to attend his celebrity basketball tournament on Friday afternon, for which friend and former teammate Rajon Rondo was in town, due to illness. The celebrity game was also to have included Thunder teammates Kevin Durant, James Harden and Eric Maynor, as well nearby Port Arthur, Texas native Stephen Jackson, a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Perkins was said to have been suffering of dehydration, and did not attend that camp’s banquet that evening. Reports surfaced Friday morning of Perkins being involved in an accident Thursday night at a house at the Port Arthur home of Stephen Jackson. KBTV reported that Perkins was taken to the Medical Center of Southeast Texas after collapsing at the home, and Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton said someone called the fire department reporting that Perkins had suffered a seizure and had fallen on the concrete outside the home. He was later released from the hospital with minor injuries.

Hey 2011-2012 NBA season…remember that time your players didn’t care that you aren’t happening?!

These lockout situations are always a little tricky, as the players and owners look for anything they can muster up to sustain their points in mediation and negotiations.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look good for Perkins that he was too sick and dehydrated to attend a celebrity event for his camp and the subsequent banquet for the children; but managed to get himself drunk to the point of arrest at a club that very evening. Especially when the camp focuses on drug-awareness.

The NBA’s problems extend far beyond the diva mentality of its players, and specific players’ lack of regard to commitment or the law. It’s situations like this that makes it even harder for fans and media to sympathize with the players. So far, I’ve heard of NBA players breaking the law, skirting charity obligations, and taking off to play in foreign leagues while their league struggles to maintain a sliver of hope for the semblance of a season.

Is it just me, or is everyone else suddenly a huge pre-March college basketball fan too?

© Tanya Ray Fox for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured.

Sometimes, when I write for Sports Of Boston, I forget many of my previous memes I developed on my old website are lost on my new readers. I realized this notion during my NFL lockout podcast earlier this week.

One central theme revolved around the sentiment that, as fans, our allegiance lays with ownership above everything else. You’re more of a Robert Kraft fan than a Tom Brady fan. It’s not, “In Bill We Trust”, it’s “In the Kraft Group We Trust.” The Brady-Bellichik regime will end someday; on the other hand, presumably, the Kraft ownership is a fixed entity. The “Patriot Way” isn’t real, Patriot Place is.

That’s why, when a team makes a fatal trade, it hurts more than a player acting up. Your team’s ownership is looking at the bottom line, sure. But they are also cognizant of the relationship between success on the field and success on their balance sheet. So, sans the frugal Bruins ownership of the during the mid-90′s, our teams’ ownership groups are predominantly looking out for our best interests.

What are our best interests though? What do we get out of this relationship?

We get to live moments like, “It’s GOOOOOD! It’s GOOOD! And the Patriots, ARAARHH SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSSSSS!!!!!” And, “Anythin’s possible…anythinGGGGGs POOSSIBULLLLLLL!” Finally, “I DON’T WANT YA’WRE LIFE.”

(Okay, that last one was from Varsity Blues, and isn’t really related, or even real. Semantics aren’t in play here.)

Basically our end game revolves around one term: Nostalgia. We play the highlight reel of these gratifying moments, which are few and far in between, like we reminisce other paramount events in our lives like birthdays, first kisses, graduations, and your first HD TV.

So, am I suggesting this weird revelation insinuates players are actually the enemy? Of course not.

I think fans are unconsciously selfish. We want to see our team win, no matter what. For instance, I bet you wanted the Celtics to bring home Banner 18 this season, right?

Good. So did I.

……But how do you think Kendrick Perkins feels? Before the trade deadline - while he was still a key cog on the Celtics – he was killing himself trying to get back to the previous form he had before Game 6 of the Finals last year, when he blew out his knee. Perk worked his ass off last summer to contribute to the good fight this year, and look what our organization, our team did to him?

It felt like Danny Ainge turned into Vince McMahon when he traded Perk away. Consequently, the whole ‘rooting for laundry’ argument has gray areas too.

The sad part is Perk may never get back to where he was, it’s to early to tell. Players know this sob-story all to well. Remember promising Patriots running back Robert Edwards? He burst onto the scene his rookie season, only to blow out his knee during an exhibition game on the beach the following offseason. His career was submarined that afternoon, just like Perk’s Game 6 incident was deleterious to his next contract negotiation.

Things are worse in the NFL, where the only guaranteed money comes from a player’s initial signing bonus. That’s why you hear players, in any sport, re-affirm their ideology that ultimately, “It’s a business.” So selfishness of the players is justified by the reciprocated callousness from general managers when injuries occur or if skill erodes.

Consequently, a 4-sided relationship is formed. I can’t call it a square, because a square has equal sides. This, clearly, is not the case. There are the players, the owners making money off them, the agents making money for them, and the driving force behind the revenue – the fans. It’s a 4-sided relationship, with 3 of the sides gaining actual tangible gains. Meanwhile, the saps (the fans) have the intangible to hold onto such as aforementioned rush and nostalgia.

That’s why, I’m done. I’m done picking sides. Somewhere along the way, being a fan started to feel like buying a new car. You know going in, with the sales tax and commission, you are getting screwed to a degree. However, recently, the value we have is waning just like the value of a car immediately errodes once taken off the lot. And right now, in this NFL lockout, we’re at the 100,000 mile mark where the first sunk cost goes into our investment. Only the car has been stuck at the shop, and all we want to know is when we’re getting it back.

© Ryan Hadfield for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Featured, Opinion, Patriots.

My Momma always told me “Brian, If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Celtics GM Danny Ainge could have used my Momma. After a 97-87 Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat ended the Celtics season, it became all too clear that the gambles Ainge took at the trade deadline left him with nothing but lint in his pockets.

Watching LeBron James and Dwyane Wade slash the lane and attack the rim was just pathetic. It would have been nice to have a big tough defensive center hanging out under the hoop to put them on their backs and make them think twice about charging in there again. Kendrick Perkins did that and gave Boston the type of swagger and attitude that made teams fear them. Since the trade, the only fear when playing the Celtics is that you might do bodily harm to a senior citizen.

Since the deal was made in late February, it was quite evident that the Celtics frontcourt did not have what it took to get stops the way that they used to. In Game 4, the Celtics gave up 48 points in the paint, a number we rarely saw when Perk was still sporting Celtic green.

They beat teams the last four seasons by preventing dynamic scorers like Wade and James from getting to the bucket. The rotations were always crisp and the chemistry was even better. The defense looked like it was on a string. One rotation led to the next and to the next and everyone knew where everyone else had to be and would be.

I know there are plenty who will argue that Perkins hasn’t put up big numbers in Oklahoma City and that never contributed a great deal offensively in Boston either. If you were to say that, you’d be right. The thing is, he wasn’t valuable in Boston because of his offensive capabilities. We had three future Hall-of-Famers who could take care of that. He was here because he knew his role, embraced it and played it damn well.

And if you really want to take a look at some numbers, Perkins is averaging 27.9 minutes and 6.8 rebounds in 10 playoff games for Oklahoma City. There isn’t one Celtics big man other than Kevin Garnett who matched Perkins’ numbers in either one of those categories. Jermaine O’Neal was closest with 21.9 minutes and 4.2 rebounds in nine games. You’re crazy if you’re telling me those Perkins’ statistics would not have been beneficial.

Would Kendrick Perkins have saved the Celtics in this series? Who knows? Probably not, but having him sure would have helped. Jermaine O’Neal did his best Perk impression all series long, but the much older, slower O’Neal just didn’t cut it as evidenced by the numbers.

“But Perk is still hurt and hasn’t recovered from his knee injury!” That’s true, but at the time of the trade Ainge said he was confident Shaq would be back and healthy for the playoffs. We all know how that turned out. The 39-year-old center was collecting a nice chunk of change to sit front row and witness the Celtics’ demise up-close. Maybe it was just me but betting on an aging giant didn’t seem like a brilliant idea and go figure, it wasn’t.

You can’t say that getting just under 28 minutes and almost seven boards from another big body wouldn’t have alleviated some of the frontcourt struggles. Shaq played a total of 12 minutes in the 2011 playoffs. 12 minutes where he gave you all of two points and zero boards. Still injured or not Perkins’ numbers were far greater than that.

When Perk left, so did some championship experience. That’s what the Thunder wanted when they took him. Jeff Green was supposed to be the new stud and possible future of Celtics coming to provide a big boost to the bench.

So, to keep everyone up to speed, the trade gave away championship experience, someone who understood the system and a starting center. In return, the C’s got someone who wasn’t even going to start here, had been to the playoffs once and had less than 27 games to get up to speed on the system. We also got a backup center who was forced to start because there was a hole left in the starting rotation in Perk’s absence (Jermaine O’Neal eventually took that starting spot). Great.

Green was brought on board because Boston needed a backup swingman to play behind Paul Pierce. Great idea, except Green has clearly struggled when he plays the small forward spot and he is more comfortable as a natural power forward. His dribbling ability is suspect and I think I’ve seen him drop more passes than he’s caught, including a pass that slipped through his hands and went out of bounds late in the fourth quarter in Game 5.

In the playoffs, he and Krstic may as well have not shown up. They were part of a bench that brought next to nothing to the second season. The rest of the deadline deals eventually brought in Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, and Carlos Arroyo. Those three played a combined 3 minutes of postseason ball with one rebound and no points.

With all those new guys contributing as much as I did to this series, we could rely on Glen Davis right? Well, Glen went missing as well and then there we were. A team that had everyone singing their praises through most of the regular season on account of their depth was now left with none.

Boston was down to four guys. It was up to Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnet,t who had to get the C’s to where they wanted to go. Four guys with an average age of almost 32 years old.

We all knew the Celts had a tight window to win another title; all of us except for Ainge apparently. He chanced winning now to have something for the future. It was expected that Perkins and Boston wouldn’t reach an agreement in the offseason so Ainge tried to get value for him now. It’s an understandable strategy for a team with time, but time was one thing that was definitely not in Boston’s favor. If you couldn’t re-sign him then you couldn’t re-sign him, but at least you’d have a better chance at another title before the window was slammed shut.

At the time of the trade, the Celtics were in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 41-14 record. In their final 27 games after the trade, Boston dropped to the three-seed and went 15-12. In those 27 games, they nearly lost as many contests as they did in the first 55.

Since Perkins’ debut in Thunder blue on March 14, Oklahoma City went 13-4 to close out the regular season. They’re now just one win away from heading to the Western Conference Finals to take on the Dallas Mavericks. Sure, Perkins has nothing to do with that.

You can tell me Perk was a bum. You can tell me he was a shell of what he used to be because of the injury. You can tell me the Celtics would have lost to the Heat either way, but the numbers don’t lie. The Celtics were better when Perkins was in uniform.

The Celtics looked better when he was here. They played better when he was here and most importantly, they won when he was here. The trade was a bust, I said it at the time of the deal and I’m still saying it now. Players and coaches across the league questioned what Boston was doing. Analysts couldn’t figure out if Ainge really thought this was best or he had been drinking and drunk dialed the Thunder front office.

Celtic players were stunned and hurt by the moves, often referring to Perkins’ exit as losing family. Then, after losing Game 5 and being eliminated, there was a lot of talk coming from the Boston locker room alluding to the fact that moves need to be made for next year. Maybe I’m looking too far into the comments, but to me certain members of the Celtics still don’t seem thrilled that Ainge dismantled a championship contender in the midst of a great season.

Give Ainge all the credit you want for bringing the Big Three together in 2007, but this year he has to take the heat for leaving the Celtics short. There was a title contender in-tact and banner 18 was dancing through the minds of the Celtic faithful. In the end, there’s nothing left but to watch our old friend Perk keep winning with someone else, while green teamers everywhere remember what was.

Follow Brian Moller on Twitter: @Brian_Moller

© Brian Moller for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion, Top Story.

The Boston Celtics’ Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat was less than 24 hours ago. While the pain is still fresh, here are a few concluding thoughts on the playoffs and the Celtics’ future.

1) The Celtics Big Three just don’t have the athleticism anymore.

• Game 2: game tied 80-80 with 7:09 left in the game. Heat out-score Celtics 22-11 down the stretch.
• Game 4: game tied 86-86 after four quarters. Heat out-score Celtics 12-4 in overtime.
• Game 5: game tied 87-87 with 2:57 left in the game. Heat out-score Celtics 10-0 to close out game and series.

Three of the Celtics’ four losses happened because the Celtics couldn’t maintain through the end of the game. Some will blame that on heart or another intangible – convenient, since it’s so hard to measure. Others will blame it on mental lapses and mention the 13 turnovers and steals the Heat forced from the fourth quarter on in those three games.

But really, the Celtics were just tired. It takes such intensity, such effort to contain scorers like Dwyane Wade (30.2 points per game) and LeBron James (28 points per game). It takes all the energy out of you. And when you’re old and slow like the Celtics (especially Kevin Garnett), there comes a point when you simply don’t have the legs left to hang with younger, faster, more athletic teams. If you don’t have a big enough lead or a crowd to inspire you, at that point you collapse. It happened over and over last season. That it didn’t this year is more a miracle than anything else.

2) Celtics Need a Center

If Doc Rivers is serious about giving the Big Three one more year of his life, Danny Ainge needs to give him a center, and a good one. No more of this “we’ll sign another old guy and see what he gives us” crap. No more rolling the dice. The Celtics need a proven commodity.

Garnett has never been a great one-on-one defender. He is a “help” defender, best when working with another defender to double-team a player, either forcing a bad pass he can steal or a shot he can block. That’s what made Garnett and Kendrick Perkins good together: they could swarm.

The problem with Perkins (which wouldn’t have saved this Celtics squad) was that a) he couldn’t rebound, and b) he caught, dribbled and then shot, which killed his offense. The Celtics need a fourth scoring option for when the Big Three – who Wade and James together out-scored, 58.2 to 50.4 points per game – run out of gas.

In every Celtics loss, at one point Garnett stopped playing the post and lost the will to fight for rebounds. About the same time, Paul Pierce stopped driving through the lanes, which made his step-back jumper easier to predict and defend. And while all this was going on, even the ageless Ray Allen stopped his nonstop sprint around the floor while trying to get open., which is fine, because by that point the Heat figured out Allen was the go-to shooter and just started swarming him on every pass.

With the Big Three all likely to fade at about the same time (given a tough enough opponent to push them), the Celtics need a fourth scoring option. Rajon Rondo, for all his heart, just isn’t that guy.

3) This bench is awful!

Yes, the Celtics bench out-scored the Heat 123-95 in the series. But, over 40 percent of the Celtics bench points came from Delonte West, who scored in double figures in all five games. Great for him, he probably cemented his role as Rondo’s backup next year. But, the rest of the Celtics bench gave them nothing. The only other player to score in double-figures even once was Jeff Green.

The Celtics won a championship in 2008 because they had sharpshooters Eddie House and James Posey on the bench. House didn’t particularly play great defense, but he knocked down shots when the Big Three weren’t on the court.

I look at this Celtics bench, and I don’t see that shooter anywhere. Green, who committed at least one turnover in each game, is still a liability on the court. Glen Davis averaged four points a game on 31.8 percent shooting. Nenad Krstic (who has the court-sense to be a good rebounder but not the hands) scored eight in Game Five, and that’s it.

Moving forward, the Celtics need a real bench. They need shooters and stronger defenders. West is the best all-around player on the b-squad (Green might be more talented, but he hasn’t shown it consistently yet), and Davis can draw charges and occasionally sneak a rebound. That’s all your bench strength, and brother, that ain’t enough.

4) The Celtics early-season victories over the Heat were the flukes, not this series.

Yes, the Celtics won the season series 3-1. But, that just means the Celtics peaked too early and the Heat peaked later. The Heat’s Big Three had never played together before. They had no idea how to make it work. At first, they played .500 basketball. Then they went through a phase where Wade and James played better separately than together. Now, they recognize that they are two of the strongest, most athletic players on the court. They don’t have play with perfect rhythm: they can just wear other teams down.

By the end of the playoff series, Wade and James were abusing Celtics defenders. They would barrel uncontested to the rim for dunks, swat away fouls and sink their shots anyway, or just shoot over Celtics from deep. It might not be the most fluid or dynamic offense you’ve ever seen. It’s less boxing, more ultimate fighting. Don’t work the other team into a corner, just punch them til they hit the deck. Then keep punching. All the way to a championship.

© Matt Goisman for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion.

For the first time in the Big Three era, the Celtics have won a playoff series without Kendrick Perkins wearing their signature green. Yet, it remained challenging for fans and analysts alike to watch Boston struggle at times in their first round match-up against the long playoff-deprived Knicks and not bring up the “P” word. With a reverence usually reserved for legendary Celtics of old like Bill Russell and Robert Parrish, Celtics Nation near unanimously wonders aloud with wistful if not bitter nostalgia; “What was Danny Ainge thinking when he traded Kendrick Perkins?”

The center position has been nightmarish for the C’s since Perkins went down with a crucial ligament knee injury in last year’s deep playoff run, despite valiant efforts from players like Rasheed Wallace (last year), Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal.

The sound of those names included as the Celtics backup centers still sounds crazy. Six years ago the only way you could get them to play from your bench would have been on a fantasy team. Their names are still synonymous with some of the greatest moments in our generation of basketball.

But, it’s not 2005. And when Wallace tried to put the Celtics on his back, he fell apart. When Shaq helped the Big Four to a comfortable spot atop the Eastern Conference, he fell apart. Now J.O. has stepped in after contributing minimally all year, performed as the others did with intensity and determination while everyone watches with minimal optimism, waiting for him to fall apart. And as many have pointed out in their own best impressions of Rick Pitino; Kendrick Perkins is not walking through that door.

The Conundrum

On paper and based on fact alone, the trade never made any sense to begin with. Perkins had become the franchise center for the C’s, and it seemed that his skill set complimented, almost perfectly, the high scoring and defensively-apt Big Three, along with Rajon Rondo’s league-topping ability to quarterback his team on the floor and distribute the ball.

With Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rondo and Coach Doc Rivers all still together, healthy and playing well, it seemed like pure disaster to mess with success and perhaps a final chance to make a run for the title in the Big Three era; not to mention that with Perkins starting with the aforementioned four, the Celtics had never lost a playoff series. Some fans never see a team like this come together in their lifetimes, let alone win an NBA Championship and go to a Game 7 in another Finals.

The shock of trading away a piece as integral and involved in those championship runs as Kendrick Perkins still seems to linger, especially considering that in return for Perkins and huge 2010 playoff contributor, Nate Robinson, the Celtics received Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green. Danny Ainge’s original explanation for the trade was that he was looking to improve the team’s offensive production by bringing in a center that has a nice jump shot in Krstic and a finesse-type forward hybrid in Green to back up Pierce.

The two newest, offensive-prone and averagely-talented Celtics joined a team whose defensive scheming and strategy have been tantamount to their success; a defense that has been consistently credited with winning them a title and nearly stealing another.

There had been murmurs for a long time that Ainge wanted a more offensive center; a guy that could contribute more points in the paint. But unfortunately what Ainge failed to understand was that his team, just like many of the other championship teams from Boston in this new millennium, was constituted by intangibles. And he took the intangibles and shredded them. He ripped the core of their identity from underneath them.

It sounds corny and a bit overstated to say that these teams won championships based on chemistry and relationships, but it’s hard not to acknowledge when you see the chemistry issues that have plagued this team since the trade deadline.

What We Should Accept

Jeff Green for Nate Robinson. Fine. It’s understandable. Nate Robinson was almost always on the trading block for the Celtics, and Green is a more talented and natural scorer. Plus with Delonte West back and healthy, the point guard bench position was better filled and Robinson was never an ideal backup for the shooting guard position either. Marquis Daniels was almost surely out for the season, and the Celtics needed a reliable backup for their team captain. The trade definitely made sense and helps the Celtics in the longer term…

On the bench.

If Ainge is looking to bring Jeff Green up as the Paul Pierce’s eventual replacement, then he’ll do a decent, acceptable, more than likely underwhelming job. He will be exactly what he was for the Oklahoma City Thunder: a guy who, as a starter, can score between 15-20 points and provide subpar defense and very little physicality.

Perhaps I’m swayed by the legend that is Paul Pierce here in Beantown. Pierce, along with Tom Brady and maybe David Ortiz, is part of the heartbeat of this generation of Boston sports. He is like the Ray Borque of our time; only better because Celtics fans were lucky enough to watch him get everything he deserved here in Boston when Ainge brilliantly gifted him with Garnett and Allen.

I wouldn’t be going out on much of a limb to say that no matter who replaces Paul Pierce, they are never going to be Paul Pierce. So maybe it is better to at least bring in someone like Green now, get the fans and the personnel used to him and comfortable with him, and therefore cushion the considerable aching blow to Celtics’ Nation’s psyche that will be Pierce’s retirement. Unless the Celtics’ can pull off some huge draft or trade at the small forward position, which is still possible with the salaries of the Big Three off the books in the coming years, this makes the most sense.

It’s acceptable. Slightly depressing to think about, but acceptable.

What We Should Never Accept

Ainge made a straight-up trade up front of Kendrick Perkins for Nenad Krstic, and completely upended the team’s systemic makeup.

Some groups just click. In the NBA, we’ve seen that collecting the most talented players generally pays off. It’s the just the way that the game is designed. But the Celtics didn’t get Dwight Howard. They didn’t even get an aging Tim Duncan or a sixth man Lamar Odom.

Perkins is playing in the playoffs right now for another team, and Krstic is the third ranked center on this current Celtics team behind Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal. They have openly admitted that they would rather take a 40-year-old, barely-able-to-walk Shaq over the guy that they traded away Kendrick Perkins for. There is no way to twist that into a positive. There just isn’t.

Krstic for Perkins is abominable. The Celtics still, even without Perkins, have the talent and coaching to go the NBA Finals this year. They have proven that they can beat the Heat, and the Bulls, and even Howard and the Magic, without Kendrick Perkins. Whether they will have the health, stamina or mental willpower to do so remains to be seen.

A Win for the Celtics is not a Win for the Trade

If the Celtics go all the way to the Finals this postseason, it will not be with the help of Nenad Krstic, but rather in spite of him. The Big Four and Doc will put this team on their backs, aided by a three-man bench in West, Glen Davis and Green. The glaring Kendrick Perkins-shaped hole in the paint will not go away, whether Shaq comes back or JO keeps playing like it’s five years ago, or the Celtics just decide to go without a starting center completely. And if they do pull off the miracle and win it all this year, it will be just that; a miracle.

It will be in spite of Ainge’s trade, and in spite of his mismanagement of the personnel on his bench. It will be because he has four exceptional future Hall of Famers starting for his team and one of the best coaches in the league.

© Tanya Ray Fox for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion, Top Story.

Excuse me, while I channel my inner Richard Deitsch…

While watching Game 2 of the Spurs/Grizzlies series on NBA TV Wednesday night, I noticed the announcers were based in San Antonio. This was made apparent right from the moment Matt Bonner hit a 3-point shot and the call was something along the lines of, “Red-Rocket for three…Yes!”

Anyway this triggered me to think about our own local coverage of the NBA and NHL playoffs thus far. As I’m sure many of you heard, play-by-play man Jack Edwards was extremely emotional in his call, as the Bruins restored faith in the masses Game 3 Monday night in Montreal. This drew the ire of Deadspin, the local sports radio stations, and probably your dog. Opinions on the matter ranged from Jack Edwards being unprofessional, to entertaining, all the way to delirious. I guess I lie somewhere in the middle. We’re the same town that lends it’s ears to Tommy Heinsohn, so it’s tough to really hammer Edwards for investing himself to the point where clearly loses objectivity during the contest.

But did he go a tad bit overboard? Well, you decide: first he gave a dissertation on the career of Benoit Pouliot, after the Canadien player took a cheap shot on B’s blueliner Johnny Boychuk.  The denouncement of Pouliot’s career was like the coach in Rudy calling out a young Vince Vaughn, after Vaughn’s character took a cheap-shot on the upstart practice hero, “If you had half the heart of Ruuttigers’ you would’ve made All-American. As it is you just went from the third team to the prep team!” The call was classic Jack – caddy, frank, and profound all while speaking eloquently.

Edwards’ next target was Roman Hamrlik, who feigned a dive towards the end of the game in an attempt to draw a penalty. Jack vehemently screamed “get up” almost like a drill sergeant in boot camp. In spite of this quirkiness, overall the NESN coverage has been solid. Both Edwards and Andy Brickley complement one another well, and Edwards – despite some frantic sequences – is on point with the call.

Donny Marshall and Gary Tanguay’s Celtics post-game show has been endearing. Marshall (with exception of a few bad power suits) has been insightful, and the Tanger (with exception to his Weezer-Buddy-Holly glasses that give off tremendous glare) directs traffic sufficiently. Unfortunately, I have to grade the station an incomplete as far as in-game coverage is concerned, because there’s no way I’m not watching Celtics/Knicks under the narration of the legendary Marv Albert.

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This could get ugly(er). The Boston sports radio wars took new heights Wednesday due to the winter ratings book being released by third party Arbitron. 98.5 The Sports Hub and Sports Radio WEEI have been at odds since the Sports Hub’s inception well over a year ago.  Because the morning drive is such a paramount time for ratings in the radio industry, today both stations took time out of their programming in order to address information. What transpired next was what we call media on media crime. WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show lobbed bombs not only towards their adversary, Toucher & Rich, but also writer’s Jessica Heslam at the Boston Herald and Chad Finn at the Boston Globe. After receiving word that D & C were proclaiming victory, Toucher & Rich quickly addressed the audience refuting their competitors statements even going as far as to call ‘EEI and request a public debate on the interpretation of the data. D & C, in turn, decided to point to the fact that the sky was blue. Meanwhile, T & R countered that the grass was green. Things got a little juvenile following that exchange.

Look, I don’t really care about ratings. They mean nothing to me, and probably less to you. Am I interested in the radio wars? Of course, I’ve been listening to sports radio since the mid 90′s while doing yard work with my dad. I’m 5% all the way invested. What interests me more is how Gerry Callahan can accost Jess Helsam, WHEN THEY WORK AT THE SAME PUBLISHMENT. Talk about awkward. Do I know anything about the ratings? No. From the minimal research I dug up tonight, it appears both stations can claim they are number 1 – largely because all a station has to do is win one demo to stake that claim. This is sort of like how a film can use the phrase “based on a true story” extremely loosely.

But Heslam and Finn actually break down the numbers and analyze what the data means. For example, one period ‘EEI fabricated their ratings to include their Providence data in the Boston based study when the Sports Hub made initial gains becoming a threat. Would I have caught that? No, probably not – so until further columnists come out and give a definitive view of what this data all means, I won’t know what to think. Finn announced on Twitter he was doing a lunch time chat Friday for Boston.com, and I inquired if he would address D & C’s remarks to which he replied:

@KeyserSozeSays If I’m asked about it in my chat tomorrow, sure. Probably should defend myself with the truth and facts and stuff.

If you want the juicy details, I would check out this piece from Boston sports media critic Bruce Allen.

In other local sports radio news, Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti recently received contract extensions to host their afternoon-show on 98.5 The Sports Hub. This move, seemingly coincides with the exodus of Dale Arnold from his midday-show at WEEI.  Another move ‘EEI made recently which raised some eye-brows, was bringing night host Mike Adams to fill the third chair on the revamped Big Show. In my opinion, Adams is a boisterous blunderbuss who doesn’t seem to know much pertaining to sports, which is kind of an issue given his line of work. That’s just me though.

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In national news, the release date of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN is set at May 24th, which is rapidly approaching. Say what you want about “BSPN,” the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” did change the sports landscape forever. I’ve read rumblings over the Internet (and take that for what it’s worth) that the brass over at the four-letter network is not to happy about the book. And can you blame them? Read this product description (Via Amazon.com):

Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network’s soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.

To quote the character Bob Ryan from HBO’s series Entourage (Yeah, I know, I can’t believe I just went there too), “Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Ending on a positive note for ESPN, I strongly recommend watching The Brady 6 documentary. ESPN films did a fantastic job taking fans inside the 2000 draft, which saw Tom Terrific fall all the way to the sixth round. Additionally, as you watch the Celtics begin to loll and plod in stretches against the Knicks this weekend, you should check out the mini-series The Association about the team. The inside access is great and the episode Kendrick Perkins is traded epitomizes the term, ‘reality television.’

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© Ryan Hadfield for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Featured, Opinion.