The Celtics Season to Date

Heading into Sunday's game against the Pacers the Celtics are roughly a quarter of the way through the season. What better time to take stock of where things are right now.

Oh, and unless you were hoping for an 82-0 campaign, there really is not too much to be down on but tons to be pumped about.

We'll start with their record:

19-2 to date and on pace for 75 wins or so.

Wow. That is just awesome. Even more exciting to me is an idea that was brought up by espn.com's John Hollinger the other day.

His thought was that because the Celtics and Cavs are so far and away better than the rest of the East they could legitimately push each other to hit 70 wins. While normally gunning for 70 would be a more or less pointless pursuit assuming the team gunning for it would have the 1 seed locked up, this year it could be different with both team's figuring to be in the neighborhood and both wanting the 1 seed. Imagine if this year ended with two teams in the same conference finishing with 70 wins? How awesome would that be?!

Answer to the rhetorical question above: only awesome as long as the Celtics finish with the 1.

Best Player to Date

Would it be crazy for me to say that to this point this year, their best player has been Rajon Rondo? Well, he leads the team in assists, field goal percentage, and steals. Secondly, since his play has really taken off over the past three weeks the team has taken off also. And what has been the difference? As you've probably heard ten million times he has finally started to use his speed as his number one attribute and the results are just stunning. Sure Steve Blake isn't exactly the fastest point guard in the league, but Rajon destroyed him on Friday night. Sodomized him even.

Simply put, when Rajon is destroying people with his quickness he opens the entire floor up for the rest of the team and gets KG but I'd say even more importantly Ray Allen WIDE open looks which they will convert more often than not. Amazingly, it seems like he can get his teammates fast break looks out of half court sets and when your point guard possesses a skill like that then you are in really damn good shape.

OK, but what about KG, Allen, and Paul Pierce?

OK, fair question.

Pierce is still the guy you lean on in close games. Just because Rondo may be the team's MVP to date it does not mean that Pierce has done nothing. Seems to me that in pretty much every single game they have needed a big fourth quarter or late game jolt to get over the top that Pierce has been that guy. If you are asking me if I think Paul Pierce is the best player in the NBA my answer would be no, but if you are asking me if he is in the conversation my answer would be yes, and if you are asking me if I like having him on my team's side for late game and big game situations my answer is an unequivocal F*** YEAH.

Then there is KG who seems to have figured out that he best serves the team offensively, hanging back and draining wide open J's when Rondo gets them for him and then picking and choosing a few strategic times per game for him to attack the rim and come up with that huge dunk or two. Would I like KG to be a bit more of a post presence? Of course I would. But at this point I am done bemoaning the fact that he does not play down on the blocks. What I give him credit for this year though is that even if he leads the team in field goal attempts per game by about one each over Pierce and Allen, it seems like his touches are not forced and they are coming within the flow of the offense. What this tells me is that he is completely fine with averaging the 16 and change per game he is averaging this year and does not care about being a 20 and 10 guy which is of course the magic number for big guys in the league. Of course this is not a surprise seeing as KG really is the ultimate "I WANT TO WIN!!!" guy, but I still thinks it bears mentioning.

(With all of that being said, KG is 7th on the team in free throw attempts per game. Of the ten guys that average over 10 minutes per game, only Eddie House and Scales average fewer free throw attempts. I know I said I don't want to bemoan the point, but you really would wish that a 6'11" power forward that shoots 80% from the line would actually get there a bit more.)

Finally, we get to Ray Allen who I think has been outstanding this year. Every time he plays I still marvel at how great he is at attacking the basket and finishing around the rim. Honestly, I always took him as kind of a soft Reggie Miller type jump shooter but the guy gets to the rim and he can finish like nobodies business. I can't say enough about that skill and I honestly believe he is the team's most consistent finisher when you factor in the tendencies of Pierce, sometimes KG, and especially Rondo of missing layups.

What I wanted to say about Ray for this year though is that it seems like he has benefited the most from Rondo's improvements. I mean, how many WIDE-open looks does this guy get? It's jarring actually and when you combine that with his aforementioned sneaky good finishing and attacking skills you put it all together and are able to get the best of Ray Allen. And did you realize that at this one-quarter point he leads the team in scoring by a smidge over Paul Pierce at 18.4 per to 18.3?

Biggest Strength

I think I outlined pretty much all of their strengths above. They seem more cohesive this year and with the vastly improved play of Rondo and how much he helps the whole team especially Allen and KG it seems like once again the sky is the limit.

Oh, and the defense is still great.

Biggest Weakness

One million times I have said it, but their free throw shooting is their biggest weakness. At 76.4% they are right at the middle of the pack as far as percentage goes (16th in the NBA). I know this is not terrible, but shaky free throw shooting can and will cost you big games and other than Ray Allen there really is not a person on the team that I trust to hit two out of two with the game on the line. The same was true last year and they survived. So there certainly is a precedent, but it does make tight games even more interesting.

Most Maddening Habit

This one has not changed either. The Celtics seem to play their best when they are down by six or so and then extending the lead to ten or twelve. However, once a lead gets into the high teens they start trying to showboat and get away from their offense which allows their opponent to get back into the game. You know something is wrong when I root for the Celtics lead to stay in the 8-14 range so as to avoid the sloppiness that comes when it stretches into the 20s.

A good problem to have I guess, but I cannot underscore how maddening it is when in a game like Friday against Portland the starters are forced back into a fourth quarter in which they have no business appearing in.

Most Maddening Habit (runner up)

Rajon, I love the fake behind the back pass and then lay it up move. One problem. I have NEVER seen you actually convert the layup. This drives me absolutely insane. The move is awesome and you know it would be all over Top Plays the following day. You always deke your opponent out of his shorts and get a wide-open layup for yourself. Now finish the damn shot!!!!

A Few Random Thoughts That Have Nothing to do with the Celtics

1) That cell phone commercial with the faces on the fingers of the person while they text message creeps me out to no end. Seriously. I hate it. It is weird and mildly horrifying. I know I am not alone.

2) I saw an ad the other night during the Celtics game which also weirded me out in a different way. I think it was a local ad so you have probably never seen it but the gist was a woman found a contractor online to do some work on her basement. The contractor went way over his time estimate and it annoyed the woman. So one day she went downstairs to check on him and found him lounging on the couch in the basement watching movies. Innocent enough. BUT, earlier in the ad you see him ordering a movie through On Demand. What else you see is him highlighting and selecting the "Adult" option of the On Demand movies. WTF? You know what this implies right? It implies that not only is this dude slacking off at this ladies house when he should be working, he is making himself so comfortable down in the basement that he is ordering porn and jerking off. Filthy. We all know what the end result of an ordered porno movie is and it is not a polished off bag of Sour Patch Kids.

That's enough for today.


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Welcome Back Junior Seau

On a scale of 1-10 I think you could put my excitement level for this at about a -8. Nothing against Junior Seau, but you know your defense sucks when your idea of a fix is bringing in a guy that got cut by the Texans in training camp and pulling a 50 year old linebacker with a gheri curl out of retirement.

Seriously, between Teddy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison, John Lynch, and Jason Varitek I really cannot be antagonized anymore by bringing players in/back just because they are "cagey veterans" and have know-how. I always thought the cold-hearted Patriots were above this, but as the past 3 years have attested they clearly are not.

Because with the Pats we really need to be in a "next year" mode, the only way things can actually improve is to replace almost everybody on the defense except for Seymour, Warren, Wilfork, Mayo, and that undrafted rookie from Georgia Tech, Gary (any relation to Myron?) Guyton. That's the only way folks. I know that Seau and Colvin too are meant to be bandages, but at some point the entire D needs to get overhauled. Even though I have said it one thousand times, the defense is why the Patriots won their first three Super Bowls and have not won the last two.

What's the old saying, "offense wins divisions, defense wins championships?" Well it's something like that anyway and so very true. Read more!

5 Thoughts for a Thursday

1) Sad news about Rodney Rodgers. The Celtics don't make the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002 without him. I also feel that by not re-signing him in the offseason of 2002 the Celtics obliterated the good-feelings they gradually built up that entire year. Maybe it would have been a little stretch financially, but sheesh. To let Rodney go and then bring on the Not-So-Functional Alcholic himself, Vin Baker was just a catastrophic chain of events for the franchise at the time. Sure all of those points are moot now, but let's not forget what Rodney was for the stretch-run of 2002.

2) Welcome back Rosie Colvin. To be totally honest I did not realize that he got cut by the Texans prior to the season. I am sure he can help the team in some capacity although I do get a nagging "too little, too late" feeling. The real question with Rosie though is always "what could have been" if he had never had that Bo Jackson injury in his second game with the team back in 2003.

3) Depressing blog post so far. Let's brighten it up some.

4) I say there are "triple doubles" and there are "TRIPLE DOUBLES!!!". Well my boy Rajon Rondo had a TRIPLE DOUBLE!!! last night. 16/13/17!! Are you kidding me?! Remember last year when I had a creepy man-crush on Rajon and I joked that he had to take out a restraining order? Well this year it could get "stalking him on Facebook and asking him to meet me a Salem Willows" style weird with him on my fantasy team too.

5) You know who I would love to see the Sox make a run at? Bobby Abreu. Don't laugh. You realize that last year he hit .296/20/100 with a .371 OBP and 22 steals right? Wouldn't he look mighty nice in that lineup somewhere? Admittedly they do not have a natural position for him, but with the inevitable JD Drew injury, the now inevitable Big Papi injury, the seemingly inevitable Mike Lowell injury, and still some questions about Ellsbury as an everyday player I am positive that if he could figure out first base they could find 500 ABs for him between RF, 1B, and DH. Maybe I'm crazy but I think he would be great for the team. Read more!

Whole Lotta Rosie

So, in what should be a move that surprises no one the Patriots resigned Roosevelt Colvin today. Indeed, the only thing that should be surprising about this is that it didn't happen the Wednesday after Thomas broke his arm. Here is a guy that knows the system, and everything else, and is just sitting on the couch. Even if he has lost a step, he still would be a better option than Pierre Woods was, or at least provide depth. I would expect him to see some significant time this weekend against the Seahawks, and it should increase as the weeks pass, since as I hear it, we wont be seeing much if any of Thomas for the rest of the season, unless the Pats make it deep into the playoffs. But to do that, we need to make it to the playoffs first, and we will need a whole lotta Rosie to do that.

-B Read more!

Two Things

'Tek

Read the tea leaves folks. The Sox offered Jason Varitek arbitration which basically says take our one year deal or we'll see you later. Varitek - and Scott Boras too - will not take arbitration because they want a longer term contract than just one year. Yes, the Sox and Varitek can still negotiate a contract down the road but the guess here is that Varitek is as good as gone. Who knows what Tek will think of the arbitration offer but my gut tells me he takes it as a slap in the face. "After all I've done for you, you won't even personally negotiate with me?! You'll let a judge decide?! Screw you, I'll find my multi-year deal elsewhere!"

Personally, two things strike me about this.

One, it is a classic Sox PR move of them being able to say, "see we tried to reason with The Captain but he wanted more than we were offering so we had to part ways." And two it now allows the Sox to get a first round compensation pick for him if he is to sign with another team. Truth be told, I think this is the real reason they are doing this. They probably figure that they will sign another Type A Free Agent at some point this winter and by letting one walk they will then not lose a draft pick in the deal. Consider this move to Varitek a move to cancel out a future loss.

And hey, if they get Varitek on a one year deal that is not too bad either. As long as they keep him in the neighborhood of 300 ABs.

So that is that. It looks like the Varitek Era could very well be over. Sad because now the only leftover vestiges from 2004 - that played any type of major role at least - will be Papi and Wake. Still, the time is now to cut the chord with Captain 'Tek. The A-Rod mauling is one my and millions of other Sox fans all time favorite moments. And the supposed, "we don't throw at .260 hitters"....beyond classic.

A great run indeed.

College Football

I really got a kick out of Pricing Boy's little blurb. Mainly because he is commenting on being temporarily thrown into college football country while I live right in it. Seeing as it seems like approximately 95% of Northern Virginia went to VA Tech and 95% of DC and Maryland went to Maryland you get a lot of intensity from those factions. Factor in the smattering of southern transplants with deep-seeded school loyalties from growing up plus all of the people around here who attended ACC and SEC schools and I think you can get the picture.

Oh, and did I mention that my wife and her father are season tickets holders at the University of Tennessee?

So, since being inundated with all of this has there been one set of fans that have stuck out from the rest and made me say to myself, "you know what, from here on out I am adding Team X to my Notre Dame and Duke Short List" AKA teams that I will ALWAYS route against no matter what. Yes, actually! Virginia Tech, come on down.

My reason for disliking them is quite simple. The team is consistently above average but for whatever reason their fans have decided that they should be considered and treated as National Championship contenders every single year. Not only that, but if they win then it was a foregone conclusion anyway and if they lose then woe is the world. Whatever though. If their goal is to finish every season ranked 15th in the final polls then they are winners in that regard.

So yeah, I'll have extra-ammo in routing for BC this weekend. Not like I am a die-hard fan of them or anything but they are the one college football team I have consistently rooted for for as long as I can remember. Glen Foley Era baby.

You may think from all this that I dislike college football. Far from it. I have actually taken more of a shining to it in the past few years. Because of that and understanding full well that most of the readers around these parts have probably paid the college football season passive interest at best to date, I'll give a real quick primer to prepare you for the major bowls.

SEC

Don't get fooled by the big name schools in the conference. Currently there are three teams ranked in the Top 25 from the conference (Alabama, Florida, and Georgia). Of those three teams, Alabama has beaten a whopping one team in the current Top 25 (Georgia) and Florida has beaten two (Georgia and Florida State). Again, those wins look good on paper but Georgia is currently ranked 16th and Florida State is ranked 24th. Remember this when one of these two teams is going up against Texas or Oklahoma in the National Championship Game.

As for who wins the big AL-FL showdown on Saturday I am really not sure. My money would be on Florida but with their best playmaker, Percy Harvin questionable I could see anything happening. My gut though says Florida in a romp.

Big 12

This is the money conference this year. To me, Texas and Oklahoma are the two best teams in college football and whichever one of these teams is in the title game should be and will be favored. Again, Florida and Alabama have beaten a combined 3 teams in the current Top 25 while Texas and Oklahoma have 8 wins against current Top 25 competition between the two of them. The Big 12 is the bet this year folks.

And that is enough college football talk for today. I'm only margainally qualified to talk on it and I think I got my point across. Don't fall for the big names in the SEC. Go with the Big 12. Unless the SEC is playing the ACC or Big East. Because those conferences are pretty mediocre too.

....and I'm out!
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College Football Country

I am still in Florida. It is weird to be in a place that cares so much about college football. I went to a Division 2 school in Massachusetts that has only had a football team for ten years and it's best sports team wears funny pants and rides horses. Anyway down here it seems to be an obsession everywhere I look I see people dressed in Gator colors,or with a FSU license plate. Granted I am 2000 miles away I didn't even realize that BC was in the ACC championship again. So I encourage all of you to tune in on Saturday and watch the Eagles battle the Hokies of Virginia Tech maybe these Southern Rednecks are on I something, probably not though. Read more!

Some Fun With Ben Watson Jokes

First, something I need to get off my chest:

When I was sitting down to do my post last night there were two things I really wanted to put out there about the Pats game.

1) That all the nitwits who were saying "trade Brady, let's ride Cassell!" finally have been silenced moving forward. (of course everybody and their mom wrote that too, namely Ben and Boston.com's Eric Wilbur...Ben in a much better way in my opinion thanks to his throwing a cockpunch into the mix)

2) That yesterday's Pats game was a stone-cold reminder of the 2005 Divisional Playoff game in Denver where they blew chance after chance to take control of the game in the first half and then self-destructed in the second. This one was a little less obvious, but Boston.com's Chad Finn beat to the punch there. Oh well. I thought that too, and I could have been first out of the gate with it. I promise that is the truth.

And now for the main reason of my little post tonight.

I want to bring everybody up to speed on my favorite running joke that I like to submit towards my least favorite Patriots player, Ben Watson.

This joke had it's genesis two years ago when the Patriots played another slop-filled game over Thanksgiving weekend at home. That time it was against the Bears as you may recall. What else you may recall from this game would be Ben Watson having approximately 15 drops and 8 fumbles, a modern day record for a 4 quarter game. OK, those numbers are blatantly false and while I would normally look up his real stats from the game, I am going to pass this time because I refuse to give Mr. Watson the benefit of the doubt.

We've all seen A Few Good Men. One of the crucial early - pre Nicholson - courtroom scenes in that movie has Noah Wyle's character Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes testifying that a Code Red was ordered against him after his service rifle slipped out of his hands during formation. He said they pounded him good and blah, blah, blah but he never dropped his service rifle again.

Does this sound familiar? Of course it does! Don't you think Ben Watson needs a Code Red? Of course he does! Nobody needs one more than him. During that aforementioned Bears game, I texted my roommate Matt after I believe his 4th unforced fumble and wrote, "somebody needs to give Ben Watson a Code Red". After that a legend was born. The joke still holds up because Ben Watson sucks so much and it still provides humor because it is so damn true.

So what is the next step of this movement? I say it is making custom Patriot t-shirt jerseys with Watson's number 84 on the back and putting for the name "PFC Santiago" in honor of the famous murdered via Code Red marine in the movie, PFC William Santiago. Can we get some traction here? Doesn't Watson deserve this? I say we get this going because even if the jersey does not catch on, the Code Red joke should spread. It's just too much fun. Plus you can even send texts when other people catch Ben Watson Disease like Randy Moss yesterday along the lines of, "Get Hal Dawson in here, Randy needs the Watson treatment!". I'm babbling now.

One more Ben Watson thought....

This sounded a lot better before the Celtics season started because Tony Allen has been SO much improved this year, but I still think you will get the idea.

Ben Watson is the Tony Allen of football players. Why? Because he looks like a football player, he is as athletic as any player in the NFL, and all of his combine skills like running, jumping, and lifting are off the charts. So where is the disconnect? The disconnect is the fact that he does not have any discernible FOOTBALL skills. You know, just like before this year Tony Allen's only real skills on the basketball court involved dunking and turning the ball over. Allen has seemingly come around now though but Watson I have no hope for. The only thing Watson is really playing for at this point is to try and shed the dubious moniker of "Neil Williams' all time least favorite Patriot". That is big time.

And now for fun, a few of my other "Least Favorite" athletes from Boston teams. The qualifications are simple; they have to be or have been guys that are/were supposed to be good but sucked or infuriated for whatever reason.

A sampling...

Sam Cassell - check the archives and read ANYTHING I wrote during the playoffs last year...he took 10 years off my life easily

Tony Allen - he has turned the corner as I said, but before this year...yikes

Cliff Floyd - sure he was only on the Sox for two months but he F&&&ing SUCKED! The master of the bases empty single and the reason why I fear a potential Mark Teixera Era.

Ben Watson - see above

Marion Butts - master of the two yard run!

Scott "Missin'" Sisson - remember him?

Ugie Urbina - what an erratic closer, even before he killed his entire gardening staff

OK enough!

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