SB Nation User Blog: Jeff Clark

Life Without The Captain

Jeff Clark — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:02:54 -0000

More photos » by Brian Babineau - NBAE/Getty Images

The truth is, we'll miss him a lot.

Take the captain and leading scorer off of any team and they'll have trouble maintaining whatever momentum they had before that point. Now we head into the much anticipated showdown with the Magic on Christmas without The Truth and things don't get much easier after that. Celtics Hub points out:

Right now, the Celtics are easily entering their toughest stretch of schedule this year.

Let's take a look at how their next 8 games shake out over the next 2 and a half weeks.

@ Orlando
@ LA Clippers
@ Golden State
@ Phoenix
Toronto
@ Miami
@ Atlanta
@ Toronto

Granted, this team has been oddly effective on the road this year (12 - 1 as opposed to 10 - 4 at home). But to count on that continuing without Paul is perhaps asking too much. Orlando, Phoenix, and Atlanta are some of the best teams in the league this year so far. The other teams aren't as good, but the team will only be home once over that stretch. It won't be an easy 2 weeks.

And that assumes that it will be two weeks. This via Yahoo!

"You're always concerned when someone is hurt," Ainge said. "But hopefully, they took care of it and it's all done. ...We expect Paul to be fine.

"It anybody's guess when he will return. I don't know. Maybe sooner rather than later."

Danny was probably trying to be reassuring when he said that, but the vagueness does nothing to quiet that little voice that was talking to me this morning.

So how do we fill the gaping hole left by Pierce? With scotch tape and paper clips it appears.

Marquis Daniels would be the best solution, but he is likely out till February with an injury of his own. Don't expect the team to look for free agent pickups. Via Gary Washburn's twitter:

Celtics owner Grousbeck said team will not pursue player to replace Pierce. "We've got a full roster. We're not going to cut anybody."

I'm sure Ainge will continue to monitor the trade market, but once again, he likely won't feel pressured into making any sort of deal that he wouldn't have made in the offseason. If a good deal presents itself, great. Otherwise, they'll go with what they've got.

So what have they got left? Well, the most logical guy to step up into the starting lineup is Tony Allen. Pause for a moment and reflect on how insane that statement would have sounded 3 weeks ago.

But give Tony credit. He's played solid defense, he's attacked the rim, and he's added needed hustle and athleticism to our bench. He's always played better when he was on the court for longer stretches, and he'll get that opportunity now. Perhaps being surrounded by the starters will limit the mistakes and miscues that he's become famous for.

However, just like Tony wasn't asked to fill James Posey's shoes last year, he's not going to be expected to replace Pierce's minutes or production. The rest of the starters need to score more and just about everyone on the bench needs to take a bigger chunk of the responsibility for each win.

I expect to see Scalabrine play the bulk of minutes off the bench at the 3 with Shelden Williams perhaps taking a larger role backing up Garnett. Big Baby is attempting to return to the team sometime on the upcoming road trip, but I haven't heard a definite date yet. Eddie House can play a little bit more if Doc wants to experiment with smallish lineups. And of course all of this assumes that Garnett's injury really is minor and he'll be in the lineup during the trip. We might even see a little more of Giddens and Walker, though don't count on Doc leaning heavily on them.

Stepping back a little here, even if the team falls on its face on Christmas and sputters through a rough road trip, it won't exactly mark the end of their title hopes. They might fall a bit off the pace in the home court race. They might even drop a couple of seeds. But I'm a lot less concerned with the team being healthy in December than May and June.

You can bet that this team isn't going to accept fate and mail in the next 2 weeks or so. They ran off an impressive stretch of wins in Garnett's absence last year and they have the kind of pride that could carry them through another such stretch this year.

The underlying concern, however, is the wear and tear the extra burden will put on Garnett, Ray Allen, and the rest of the team. You could tell in the playoffs that Paul and Ray were worn down from carrying the team on their shoulders for the stretch run. Garnett's knee shouldn't be given any additional burdens and we don't want to see Ray lose the lift in his legs again. It will be up to Doc to maintain the rest and health of those two guys, even if it means risking a loss here or there.

Finally, I fully expect Rajon Rondo to take an even bigger role in the offense. He stepped up last year with KG out and he's smart enough to know when the team needs more scoring. My guess is that he'll call his own number more often.

Watching the Celtics play without Paul Pierce will be an odd, uncomfortable feeling. Paul has become such a huge part of the franchise that his presence will be ubiquitous in its absence. But the team will rally around each other and move forward. Some guys will step up, some won't. We'll lose some games we wouldn't normally lose, but they will get through this.

Ray Allen's twitter account hacked

Jeff Clark — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:29:55 -0000

Ray Allen's twitter account hacked

A rather obscene tweet just showed up on Ray Allen's account. I won't repeat it here, but it seems quite out of character with Ray so I'll assume it was hacked. - Update: He just tweeted that it was indeed hacked.

Welcome Back Walker

Jeff Clark — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:37:42 -0000

More photos » by Brian Babineau - NBAE/Getty Images

Called up.

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The Celtics just released this statement:

BOSTON, MA - The Boston Celtics announced today that forward Bill Walker has been recalled from the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.

Walker, a 6'6" forward, appeared in nine games for the Red Claws and was averaging a team-high 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game at the time of his recall. In his last game for the Red Claws against Fort Wayne, Walker netted a season-high 33 points on 14-of-17 shooting including 3-of-4 from three point distance.

Glad to have him back. He could provide a little more athleticism and energy off the bench at the wing position.

KG & The Shadow Of Doubt

Jeff Clark — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:40:48 -0000

Once bitten, twice shy. The Celtics flat out lied to us last year about the extent of Kevin Garnett's knee. I understand why they did it. I do think the team hoped to have him back at some point and believed they would. But at some point along the way they let us believe that he was coming back when they knew he wasn't. Right or wrong, that makes you wonder.

Now all indications are that Garnett was just pulled from last night's game for "strategic rest." All indications are that the issue is a thigh bruise and not directly related to his knee. Everything sounds on the up and up. I'm 99.9% sure that is all there is to the story.

However, there's that thin cloud of doubt that creeps in and will always creep in from now on. And the Celtics know it. There's a reason why Danny Ainge addressed the CSN crew last night instead of just Doc. They know they need to be very careful in how they handle situations like this from now on because they know we didn't appreciate them going "Belichickian" on us last year. (If you are going to do that, at least do it consistently. Not just when it is convenient to you.)

For his part, Garnett seems to be dealing with being injured a little better too.

Doc sheds light on KG injury

"He wasn't thrilled with it, but I think he's better this year than he was last year," said Rivers. "[Monday], he actually sat down in practice and [Celtics captain] Paul [Pierce] walked over to him and said, 'Wow, someone's growing up.' You know, instead of fighting it.

"He has such a warrior mentality, sometimes it's to his detriment. [Monday], he did a good job. You know he wanted to fight it [Tuesday], and then he just kind of said, 'You're right.'"

I'm not trying to stir the pot here. I'm not a big fan of conspiracies. I think KG will be back playing on Christmas day. I'm just trying to point out that there's always going to be a shadow of doubt around injuries to Kevin Garnett because of what happened last year.

Update: As it turns out, the team is still prone to using deception. Via the Globe:

The news came as a surprise to teammates, who didn't know they would be taking the court without their defensive leader until about 20 minutes before tip-off.

"I didn't want them thinking,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I just wanted them to go out and play.''

The curveball seemed to effect the performance on the floor as the team was out of sync the whole first half. Not a huge problem I'm sure, but a strategy that I don't agree with.

I say be open and honest about injuries. Trade rumors, on the other hand, you should keep under wraps for as long as possible (despite my best efforts to root them out).

Night And Day

Jeff Clark — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:59:44 -0000

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

Paul finally got it going.

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Well, everything that went wrong in the first half went right in the second half. Amazing.

Earl Watson: scoreless in the 2nd half. (after 18 in the first)
Pierce put up 19 points in the 2nd half (after only 2 in the first)
Perkins added 13 of his own in the 2nd to finish with 19.
Ray gets the game ball though. He was all over the court with great energy and some sweet 2nd half shooting.
The energy level on defense went up 3 notches which keyed the turnaround.
I like the way Paul kept on playing through his shooting slump. Showed leadership.
Scal provided some good energy off the bench tonight.
Wow, 24 points and 18 rebounds for Murphy tonight. Is it just me, or does he kill us every time?
I don't know what Doc said at halftime, but it appears to have worked.

Very odd game, but I'll take the win.

A First Half I'd Like To Forget

Jeff Clark — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:40:48 -0000

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

Get the ball!!!

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What was that?

Sure, the Celtics don't have KG but the Pacers don't have Granger. So no excuses. That was just a bad half of basketball. Down 15 at the half to this team is embarrassing.

Pierce is 0-6 with 2 points. That's not like him.
Ray is 0-3 from three point range.
Eddie House was the only one who could buy a bucket.
Rondo only has 2 turnovers but it feels like more.
Speaking of Rondo, his man Earl Watson has 18 at the half. That's not all luck.
Pacers are shooting 46.7% from 3 point land. We better hope they cool off.
Perkins inexplicably can't seem to hold onto the ball.
Troy Murphy has 10 rebounds already and the Pacers are ahead 24 to 21 in that dept.
The only thing going for us is the odds - Pierce won't stay cold forever, the Pacers won't stay hot forever... I hope.

Things better turn around fast or this is going to be another ugly loss at home.

Get Ryan Gomes

Jeff Clark — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:16:31 -0000

More photos » by Ann Heisenfelt - AP

Go get Gomes.

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I've got this college buddy of mine that I love like a brother. A few years after college, he moved away for personal/logistical reasons. We keep in contact and he's doing wonderfully where he is so I'm happy for him, but obviously it isn't the same as having him around. I've recently got word that there's a chance that he could be coming back into the area. Needless to say, I'm excited. Things will be different of course. We both have families now and we've matured (a little). But I just know that he'll fit right in and we'll have a blast hanging out again.

That was my long winded analogy for how I feel about Ryan Gomes. I don't have any inside information or even a vague rumor to throw out there. All I have is a few guys on another site that have reminded me that the TWolves have an option on Ryan's contract at the end of the year and there's a chance (however slim) that they could release him or trade him to a team that would release him for cap flexibility reasons.

If such a glorious event were to occur, you can bet that I'll be leading the charge to urge the Celtics to bring him back to Boston (where he belongs). You see, I've always thought that Ryan was more valuable to the Celtics than he would be to any other team. Sure he's got enough talent to make it work anywhere, but he's also a tweener that isn't capable of being the first, second, or perhaps even 3rd option on a team seeking alpha-males to lead them. What he is, however, is a great glue guy that does all the little things you need to win basketball games.

One man's tweener is another man's versatile utility infielder. Much like a taller Marquis Daniels he would fill multiple roles on the currently constituted Celtics roster. He'd be that big 3 that has eluded Doc for many a year. He would spell Pierce (which would have a noticeable trickle down effect on the rest of the roster) and he could fill in at the 4 in smaller lineups. He's even developed a reliable jumper that would fit perfectly into Doc's offensive schemes (floor spacing) and he's bright enough to pick up the defense quickly I'm sure.

In terms of personality, you couldn't ask for a better lockerroom and community guy. He was Mr. Ubuntu before Doc introduced that term to the team in '07. Even as a youngster, he was wise beyond his years and there were times when he looked and sounded like a veteran (and maybe at the time he was one of the older players on the team). I can't find the quotes at this moment but when he was traded away, Danny Ainge singled him out as being one of his favorite people and talked about how hard it was to include him in the deal.

The sad thing for his perspective is that he never got to taste that Championship and he has had to toil (with Al Jefferson) on another rebuilding team. We've been able to move on and put those rebuilding years behind us. He has had to relive them over again in another town.

If the Wolves don't plan on releasing him but don't see him as a fixture in their long term plans, I'd be more than willing to use a few of our expiring contracts to swing a deal for him. Perhaps the rejuvenated Tony Allen and JR Giddens could get it done?

Ryan hasn't turned into an All Star or anything, but I don't think that was his fate anyway. He has steadily improved his game over the years and would be a great addition to a championship contender.

If there's any chance of getting him back in green, nothing would make me happier. Just like seeing an old friend move back into town.

Sheed Gets 1 Tech Rescinded

Jeff Clark — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:39:02 -0000

Sheed Gets 1 Tech Rescinded

"Near the end of the first quarter, Wallace made a shot in which he felt he was fouled. After the made basket, he yelled, 'And one!' That's when official Bennett Salvatore called a technical foul against Wallace."

Payback Time

Jeff Clark — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:47:55 -0000

Monday's practice report - Celtics Blog - ESPN Boston

Starting with Tuesday's visit from Indiana, the Celtics play three of their next five games against opponents that beat them earlier this season (Pacers, Magic and Suns). Even on the heels of an 11-game winning streak (and with 12 wins in their last 13), do the Celtics have something to prove in this stretch? "I don't know about that statement stuff," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "If we win, yeah, we're making a statement. We want to beat them because they beat us. I hope that's in us. They beat us for a reason, though, they did something well against us, so we have to figure that out."

Will The Wizards Blow It Up?

Jeff Clark — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:29:02 -0000

Will The Wizards Blow It Up?

The Wiz are a fascinating team right now in that they have talent but can't produce wins. They have to decide if they want to blow everything up and enter a rebuilding phase. Mike Prada lays out how painful (but perhaps necessary) that process can be.