Game 37: Solid Win Against an Up & Comer

Below are thoughts I wrote down while watching the game. I did add more thoughts the next day when reading over what I wrote. But if it appears disjointed, it is for that reason...

It may be time to get Pruitt out on the floor some more. He appears to be a better ball handler than both Tony Allen and Eddie House....Quite honestly, we all know that Allen and House are not constructed to be effective point gaurds. It isn't where their strengths are. They are at best decent stop gaps at the point gaurd position....

On the Dennis & Callahan show, Doc was correct in saying that with Rondo out this is a good opportunity for Allen and House to get some experience running the point. I feel like noting that I agree with that statement, even though I feel Allen and House are nothing more than decent stop gaps with respect to playing the point gaurd position....

But getting back to Pruitt, I was impressed with Gabe. Now I am not going to get overly excited with a 2nd round rookie based on one 12 minute performance. However I believe he played well enough to warrant more consideration for future playing time. He appears to be a solid ball handler, a good shooter, and he was working pretty hard on the defensive end. That latter aspect of his performance is especially important; because though Eddie House is an excellent offensive spark off the bench, he really can't play defense. Even when he tries, it just doesn't seem that he grasps the concepts. He's easily beaten by those who can take him to the rim; and when he is taken to the rim it forces his teammates to rotate and pick up the slack. Consequently this, against a very good team especially, will allow an opponent to dish and swing the ball quickly creating a wide open jumper. Specifically with Pruitt though, I do remember last night there being a couple possessions during the 2nd quarter where Pruitt did a terrific job in getting around the pick to cut off the lane to Rodriguez......

Glen Davis continues to impress me. He had some solid rotations defensively where he effectively prevented Portland from driving inside. Davis continues to box out and pull down big rebounds in important situations. And he is very nifty around the net. Tommy commented that unlike Perkins who still hasn’t learned that you can’t just lay the ball out there like a loaf of bread and not expect someone to steal it; Davis will show the ball, pull it back, and then put in the hole once he has gained the advantage. The loaf of bread analogy was Tommy's for the record......

Tony Allen made a couple mental errors out there early on. For example he made an unnecessary extra pass as the 24 second clock wound down when he should have shot it; unfortunately this resulted in the 24 second clock expiring. But in classic Tony Allen style, he did have a number of moments where he played some solid defense, was aggressive on the boards on a couple occasions, and drove and dished very well on a couple other plays.......

In the first half Boston seems to be getting more aggressive about getting into the paint than I’ve seen in their past couple games. However, they’re still taking way too many quick jump shots......

Following the conclusion of the second half I wrote:
Am I the only once who has noticed that Ray Allen isn’t taking the ball to the hoop anymore? That was one of the things about his game that was a real pleasant surprise to me this year.

847 left in the 2nd:
Davis creates a second chance opportunity by pulling down an offensive rebound in traffic & then before the defense knew what happened Davis shovels a perfect pass to Garnett for a dunk. This brought the Celtics within 2, 23-25.

Alas, Davis shows why he is a rookie… 818 to go. Not even 30 seconds since his nice little shovel pass and Davis picked up a silly offensive foul.

7-8m in the 2nd:

Davis takes it hard to the hoop and draws a foul.Pruitt makes a good run at the defender
Loved Ray Allen's play in the second half. I really believe Ray shoots it better when he mixes up his offensive weapons instead of just taking long jumpers. Ray Allen is exceptionally dangerous when mixes selective drives to the lane and cuts to the basket for easy layups in addition to his super shooting ability.

Again, you have to love Pierce all round game. Despite his average offensive contribution, Pierce still found a way to have a significant impact on the game by taking it the lane and picking up fouls, rebounding, creating, and playing great defense.

Boston only committed 8 turnovers last night. Boston had 13 offensive rebounds to Portland's 6. Portland had more defensive rebounds, but that was to some extent a result of Portland's 19 turnovers translating into 9 extra field goal attempts for Boston. All this offset Boston's subpar performance at the free throw line (25 for 38).

But lets put the stats aside. Boston got their edge back. They didn't play a perfect game. The team overall shot only 43.6 percent. What Boston did though was instead of settling for a bunch of outside shots, the Celtics worked it inside. Either KG would post up, or Pierce would take it to the lane and create a foul, or Ray Allen would take it to the lane; but even better was that the team moved without the ball better. Allen, KG, and Pierce led the way in this regard. But it overall it created some nice cuts, and actually opened up the outside shots they did take. All in all, it was an impressive win against a very good Western Conference team.

Final Notes: Brandon Roy and Aldridge sure can play. If Oden lives up to the hype, that will be one nasty trio to contend with. LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and Brandon Roy. Plus Martell Webster is still developing as an outside marksmen. Portland is heading in the right direction. They will be a very tough team to beat in years to come.