Thursday, April 30, 2009

CELTICS MESS WITH THE BULLS AND GET THE HORNS


The Celtics have nobody to blame but themselves for this one. No star player fouled out. The refs actually had a pretty good game (Heinsohn said so, so it's 1,000% true). The C's had chance after chance after chance to end this game and this series.

After going on a 23-3 run in the 4th, leading 99-91, the Celtics scored 2 points in the last 3:38. Rondo missed a pair of free throws. A very slow-starting Celtic offense was forced to let Tony Allen shoot to avoid shot-clock violations. On the other side of the court, the Bulls scored 10 points and forced a 101-101 tie. The C's were once again sluggish on offense, running out of shot clock before even starting their offense. And the game went to overtime.

In the 1st OT, the game was tied 109-109, and the Celtics had the ball for the last possession. Once again, like some college team or something, they took their sweet ass time to start moving on offense. Chicago only had to defend for 5 or 6 seconds, and Pierce missed a 15 footer to send the game to OT #2.

2 minutes into the 2nd OT, a Celtics shot clock violation. What, the, FUCK?

3rd OT, 123-123, 0:38 on the clock, an uncharacteristically indecisive Paul Pierce forgoes a drive down the lane, seems to think about shooting, then he was going to pass it to Scal or fake pass it? I don't know what he was trying to do. More importantly, HE didn't know what he was trying to do. Noah steals the ball, Pierce fouls him (too late), and Chicago takes a 3 point lead.



127-128, 21 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich misses a lay-up, giving the Celtics a beautiful present, and Rondo's shot with 7 seconds left is blocked.

No killer instinct.

A 51 point night from Ray Allen goes to waste. Rondo finishes with a mere 8 points. He seemed to have no edge, and no will to drive the ball after he was called for a flagrant foul (C's may have lucked out on that decision).

Regarding the Rondo/Hinrich incident, it was MORONIC of Rondo to pull thuggish crap like that right in front of the ref. But I'll also say this. Kirk Hinrich weighs 190 pounds. Rondo's no slouch, but he and his 179 pounds don't have the strength to toss Hinrich around like a rag doll. Kirk did a good job of embellishment. And Bulls like him and Brad Miller are exceptionally good at being pussies like that. Nevertheless, really dumb by Rondo, and he/the Celtics are lucky the refs didn't throw the book at him.

The Celtics were -3 when Pierce was on the court.

Only 11 points from the bench in 63 minutes of basketball. Scalabrine had 7 of those points.

The Celtics have the highest scoring starters in the playoffs, and the lowest scoring bench.

Glen Davis is having the series of his life. 10/18 shooting with 23 points and 7 boards tonight.



Game 7 Saturday night and who knows what to expect? There have been 7 overtime periods in this series. Even with the blowout in Game 3, the Celtics are only averaging 3.3 points per game more than Chicago.

I think the Celtics will win if Paul Pierce returns to his confident and decisive self in Game 6. Same goes for Rondo.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

RED SOX TAKE A DAY OFF, BUT MATT GARZA AND THE RAYS DID NOT


When do we start to worry about Josh Beckett? If his next start is a dud, then that's when we'll worry. If you remove his Opening Day start, Beckett is 1-2, with a 7.94 ERA.

Beckett and the Red Sox decided to cheer up the struggling Rays with an easy win, a 13-0 crushing that didn't see a Boston baserunner until Ellsbury reached on an infield single in the 7th.

And that was IT for the Red Sox offense. They were essentially no-hit by Matt Garza and Grant Balfour. 1 for 27 as a team, with just that single. On the bright side, they only left 2 men on base.

J-Lo also decided to pump up his ERA with 5 earned runs exchanged for 1 out. I love how people are just now realizing how much he sucks. I've been hyper-critical and spiteful of him for 3 years now. He blows and doesn't deserve to be on this team. I'd rather Theo track down Hipolito Pichardo in the sugar fields of the Dominican Republic and give him J-Lo's roster spot. Or keep Van Every out there in the pen.



Justin Masterson faces 0-3 Andy Sonnanstine Friday night at 7:38. Yeah, 7:38. Fucking Tampa Bay Rays are horrible like that, aren't they? How about the inflated attendance figure of 20,341 tonight? No way were 20,000 people there. And even if they were, that's pathetic when you have the AL Champions rematching the team they beat in the ALCS. Tampa Bay doesn't deserve a Major League team.

Man of the Game? Matt Garza, ya think?

Bitch-Goat:
Josh Beckett: 0.7
Dustin Pedroia: 0.1
Jason Bay: 0.1
George Kotteras: 0.1

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara