Indiana 103, Boston 96 -- The AP reports: The Boston Celtics went to Indiana guaranteeing their three-week losing streak would end and went home with more disappointment. The Pacers beat the Celtics 103-96 on Tuesday night to give Boston its 12th straight loss. Boston guard Delonte West made the guarantee in a story published Tuesday in the Boston Globe and Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal took exception... Al Jefferson led the Celtics with 15 points and 17 rebounds, his 20th double-double of the season.
Boston Celtics Blog: Tony Allen season is over Jan. 13, 2007
The Boston Celtics announced today that guard Tony Allen had successful anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery along with cartilage repair to his left knee. The surgery was performed this morning at New England Baptist Hospital by Celtics Team Physician, Dr. Brian McKeon and assisted by Dr. Paul Weitzel. Allen is out indefinitely with no timetable set for his return.
Allen appeared in 33 games this season, averaging 11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.48 steals in 24.4 minutes per game. The 64 guard had set or tied career-highs in 12 statistical categories this season.
Boston Celtics Blog: Hot Dancers Jan. 4, 2007
The Boston Celtics announced today that three members of the Celtics Dancers have been nominated to participate in the first-ever NBA All-Star Dance Team at the All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas from February 16 18. Celtics Dancers Alison Preston, Courtney Kenihan and Whitney Gallagher have been nominated to represent the Celtics on the NBA first-ever All-Star Dance Team.
Boston Celtics Blog: By InsideHoops.com, Jan. 1, 2007
The Celtics are currently 10-18, and in second to last place in the awful Atlantic division. Right now they look destined to remain in the lottery, and in fact it doesn't even make sense for them to try to make the playoffs, as a championship is pretty much out of the question.
The best Boston Celtics player this season, as usual, is superstar Paul Pierce, who is averaging 26.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He's an all-star. And although Pierce has been the subject of many NBA trade rumors over the last few years, he's signed a long term contract extension and is the heart of the team.
Wally Szczerbiak, a scorer, is puttiing up a modest 17.1 points per game, with 3.8 boards and 2.2 assists. Aside from buckets he doesn't do too much.
Power forward Al Jefferson has stepped up recently, especially when there were Allen Iverson-to-Boston rumors. For the season he's shooting an impresisve 50.9% for 13.1 points and a very impressive 9.6 rebounds per game. He also blocks almost 1.5 shots on average.
Ryan Gomes is a solid tweener forward. Tony Allen has shown flashes. Delonte West is a combo guard who can score. Point guards Sebastian Telfair and Rajon Rondo are both young, raw and still in development.
We'll be updating Boston Celtics news and this Celtics blog regularly all season.
Do you have Boston Celtics team analysis and opinions worthy of being posted on this page? Contact us and you may see your name in lights.
Boston Celtics Blog: Value the Ball By Dondrummond Duncan, Nov. 9, 2006
The Big Dig is a long-term problem, with no immediate end in sight...
It's tough to look at the Celtics offensive statistics and find the single guy to identify as the problem. Five players are shooting 50% or better, 3 of whom are double-digit scorers (Wally Szczerbiak, Sebastian Telfair, and Al Jefferson), the team as a whole shoots a healthy .459 and Paul Pierce is statistically as good as anyone in the NBA through three games, averaging 24.7 points, 13 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.
However, there is a team-wide issue with turnovers that Doc Rivers needs to correct if the Celtics are going to have a successful season. Last season the team averaged 16.6 turnovers per vs. 14.8 for the opponents, a difference that contributed (along with poor defense) to missing the playoffs. This year it's gotten worse with the Celtics averaging 19.3 turnovers per game vs. 10.3 for their opponents, a disparity that negates all of the Celtics' other advantages (shooting slightly better overall, at a 0.2% advantage, grabbing 5.6 more rebounds, shooting 8.6% better from three).
When the team added two new point guards to help/replace Delonte West it was thought that they would improve the turnover differential but that has not been the case, and the big question is, Why?
Well, for starters, 10 different Celtics are averaging 1 or more turnovers (the only Celtic to play and average less than one is Gerald Green, who averages 0.5 in 4.5 minutes... so apparently, he just needs time), with 4 averaging 2 or more (an impressive feat for Kendrick Perkins, who has only gotten 16 minutes per game so far), and Szczerbiak leading the way at 3.67. Sebastian Telfair is falling below the point guard standard of a 2:1 assist:turnover ratio and instead checking in at 2.7 to 2. Rajon Rondo is doing ok for a rookie, almost meeting the standard at 3.0:1.67. But between the two of them, only 3.67 turnovers per game are accounted for, well-below the team's 19.3 average.
It's not truly their fault this season, just like the 16.6 wasn't West's fault last season. What they have is a team-wide failure to execute the offense efficiently. The Celtics are supposed to run a three-man weave, a few post-ups for Al Jefferson, isolation plays for Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak, and hopefully run a number of fast breaks for anyone that can get out ahead of the defense. Unfortunately the fast breaks have been scarce due to the low opponent turnover rate (10 per game) and the team still failing to advance the ball frequently (the blame for this does partially fall on Telfair's shoulders, but Rondo has done a solid job of it) and the Celtics are the victims of frequent feet-shuffling before dribbling (Tom Heinsohn believes this to be the result of indecision...probably right) and too much individual play (Szczerbiak does a good job overall but his 3.67 is a bad result of too many attempts to drive into the paint on his still-sore knee).
The solution? Doc Rivers says he's going to simplify the offense. Which could work, given the overall youth of the team.
InsideHoops.com Boston Celtics Player Rankings (Mar. 23, 2008): 1) Kevin Garnett, 2) Paul Pierce, 3) Ray Allen, 4) Rajon Rondo
