Tag Archives: Sam Cassell

Celtics Friday

Celtics Jazz Basketball

So we’ll start with the Celtics losing to the Jazz. More importantly losing Kevin Garnett to a knee injury. The Celtics last year stepped up when Garnett missed serious time, but the bench this season without James Posey, doesn’t seem as strong to do the same. They’re not back to a last place team or anything, but a second seed in the East isn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

Yesterday was the trading deadline and without any big expiring contracts on the team, Danny didn’t have too many moves he could have made. He dumped Sam Cassell last week for a conditional (read, not gonna get one) second round pick in 2015 from the Kings. He then dumped Patrick O’Bryant to Toronto for guard Will Solomon yesterday, whom they immediately sent to Sacramento. The C’s get another future conditional second-round pick from the Kings. Whoopie!

The bottom line is that they made the trades to clear up a couple roster spots. The rumor mill has Joe Smith on his way to Boston and the Stephon Marbury rumor is persistently out there. Joe Smith would likely be the PJ Brown of last year filling the role of a big off the bench. Marbury would add depth at guard but there’s the possibility of him being a nut case. I don’t think he’d be able to distract the team especially with Pierce, Allen, and KG in the locker room.

Teams have until March 1st to get their playoff rosters set, so it’s getting down to crunch time for guys like Smith and Marbury to get bought out. It’ll be interesting to see if the Garnett injury is serious or if he was just held out as a precautionary measure. It’ll play a role in Danny’s urgency to fill the roster spots. If anything the next two weeks should be exciting.

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Just Say No

So on the heals of their 16th straight win and cruising to a possible record breaking season, rumors are circulating that the Celtics are looking for some point guard help. The name that’s floating around is Stephon Marbury. Can I just plead with everyone to say no?

I understand that Danny Ainge will talk to Kevin Garnett and the rest of the team before pulling the trigger on a deal like this? Isn’t this why you signed Alien Head Cassell last year and brought him back this year? Why bring yet another point guard into the fold? As it stands right now you have Rondo, House, Cassell, and Pruitt on the team. You really want to bring in another point guard?

So besides the point guard argument, there’s the psychopath argument.

What kid of guy gets a tattoo on his head? I can think of one. This guy has been a problem in the locker room and a malcontent. The Knicks are likely to buy him out and he’ll be looking for a job. Rumor has him going to the Celtics. I say go play in Italy like you said you were going to. Our machine is fine, we don’t need anything messing that up.

Back tomorrow with some Patriots love.

Happy Answer Your Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day!

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Game 3 Recap

From our boy Billy Simmons:

“If you’re a Lakers fan, take solace in the fact you’ll get every call at the Staples Center if the crowd shows up; not only do these things have a way of coming around, but if Bennett Salvatore doesn’t officiate Game 3, it will be the biggest sports upset of this century.”

And who’s on the floor for last night’s game?

Joe Crawford , Bennett Salvatore , Mark Wunderlich.

I rest my case…

Conspiracy indeed!

Amazing how that smug piece of garbage Phil Jackson wasn’t complaining about the calls after this game. Completely shocking huh? Yeah I didn’t think so. The fact that these refs are influenced that much by the home crowd (Paul Pierce’s offensive foul near the end of the game) is ridiculous.

I give Doc credit for a great jab sent Jackson’s way, “I’m just surprised he didn’t whine about fouls tonight.”

Of course I predicted this in yesterday’s column, as well as Monday’s column didn’t I?

“I know that the home team is supposed to get calls, but the free throw disparity between the C’s and Lakers was scary different. Scary in the sense that if the C’s got all these calls in game two, Kobe is going to take up residency at the line for the next three games, getting all the calls and making it that much tougher for the C’s to steal wins in Los Angeles.”

So conspiracy theories aside the Celtics, specifically Pierce and Garnett, played like a giant bag of crap combining for 8-35 from the field for 19 points combined. What happened? Pierce was the man through the first two games. Let’s just hope that the team smartens up and gets Garnett the ball on the block instead of 18 feet out.

The lone bright light on the C’s was Ray Allen’s 25 points hitting 5-5 from three before missing two down the stretch.

So I’ve been asking this entire series, but can we finally put Alien Head back into Area 51?

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I think I understand the Alien mind that if Pierce and KG are shooting like a bag of ass that the offense needs to come from somewhere else but this guy is so shot happy he thinks it has to be him, every fucking time. Fucking ridiculous. At least Doc smartened up and pulled him in favor of Eddie House who, unfortunately, didn’t really fair any better.

Where was game two’s player of the game? You remember Leon Powe right? Yup, 6 minutes and 0-3 shooting. Oh well. In Powe’s defense he was hit on at least one of those shots but of course didn’t get a call.

We were beat by a guy named Kobe and a guy named Sasha. Last I checked that’s a beef and a chick’s name. So frustrating!

Here’s my plan for game four.

You start Tony Allen and put him on Kobe. Calm down, there’s a plan here.

Tony hasn’t even sniffed the floor this entire playoffs and I think that he’s hurt. Have him tape up his knuckles with brass knucks underneath and just slug Kobe right in the gut, jaw, and/or knee. Get him out of the game, take the flagrant one and suspension but at the same time hope that first hit will cause Kobe to fight back and get himself suspended for a game. That’s really the only way the Celts will get a win in LA.

Speaking of Kobe. Did anyone catch the half time piece? Kobe the family man? Yup with his daughters dressed in their white dresses and his supportive wife. HELLO, this guy is a rapist! Of course his wife is sticking with him, um, he’s the meal ticket. What a bunch of shit that entire piece was. “I’m really laid back…” until a girl doesn’t want to put out, then you force yourself on her. You are scum!

The C’s need to shoot better (Obviously) and the problems should fix themselves. Despite Kobe having almost as many free throw attempts as the whole C’s team if the Celtics hit their shots at a percentage better than 34%, chances are they win a close game like last night.

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Game One Recap

The Celtics won 98-88. I don’t think anyone missed the game, so I’ll give you some of my personal observations from the game.

9:00PM Start
OK, so here’s my theory on the 9PM start, and the schedule in general. David Stern knows that if the game was on a Saturday night, me, the boys, and every Celtics and Lakers fan in America would have people over to watch the game with no work the next day. Instead, he schedules the games with work for most (not me, Jay’s still unemployed) the next day meaning that instead of six guys watching at one house, most are watching at their own house and boosting the ratings.

Lakers Fans in the Garden
Are you fucking kidding me? I understand that maybe a couple fans would get tickets, but right next to the Celtics bench? Yeah, those two douchebags. What the fuck? No sooner did the game start that I said I would have dumped $6 beers on those two and walking out of the Garden I would have made sure these guys had an “accident” and ended up in a dumpster somewhere

The Celtics Starters
Admit it, when Pierce (22 points, 3-4 from the land of three)went down you were scared. I know I was. He had just found his touch coming out of the half and the C’s needed him down the stretch. He only played out of his mind after returning from the injury.

Allen continued to be the Allen we all thought we were getting in the Sonics trade with 19 buckets and eight boards.

KG was the high man with 24 and added 13 boards (four on the offensive end).

Rajon had a couple questionable passes when he had wide open looks (story of the playoffs) but still had 15 points, seven assists and five boards.

Perk was limited with foul and injuries and only managed only one point with four boards.

The Celtics Bench
Did anyone see Tony Allen’s graphic during intros? Yeah Brian Scalabrine. Good job ABC, pay attention.

PJ Brown was the backup big man we knew the C’s needed for the stretch run. With Perk in foul trouble and then hurting his ankle, Brown played 21 minutes and had six boards (seemed like he had five straight defensive boards at one point). He also had a block and a couple assists.

When James Posey is on, he’s on. When he’s off, he’s really off. In his 23 minutes he managed just three points on 1-6 shooting (1-5 from three). In order for the Celtics to win this series they’re going to need this guy to be an offensive force off the bench (like he was during the regular season) when the starters are resting/in foul troubles.

Alien Head Cassell was the back up point and came into the game gunning. Which made me cringe I won’t lie. But then he hit his first three shots, so I didn’t mind. Unfortunately that lights out shooting didn’t last and he missed his next three shots, finishing with 4-9 (0-2 from three). He matches up well against Fisher as was evident by the first three buckets, but needs to stop trying to be a hero and dish to Garnett on the block (have we said that before?).

Finally it was great to see Leon getting some playing time (I know Steve-O was psyched up). Leon didn’t miss a shot (sure he only took one, but who’s counting) and managed four boards in his limited time.

The Lakers
Not to sound like “The Dude” in the Police Chief of Malibu’s office, but I really wasn’t paying attention. I waited with a sense of inevitability that the officials would flip a switch and start calling everything for Kobe, but it never happened. The officials really let the boys play the game last night. Many times, on both ends, guys would drive the lane and there was no call. I say good. Let the boys play.

I was surprised that the “Zen Master” coached so poorly in the final two minutes. Typically down eight or ten with a couple minutes left you foul the other team. Phil waited like 20 seconds to foul and pretty much conceded the game. Sure he had the time out when Paul Pierce came back to try and deflate the crowd, but the final two minutes looked very amateur-ish.

Overall it was a great game and pretty much what I expected going into it. I just hope the C’s can take the momentum into Sunday night’s game and head out to L.A. up two nothing. Back Monday with a recap of Sunday’s game. And in case you missed it yesterday, I’ve attached my Finals video again.

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Finally Some Smart Decisions

Down 14 in the first half my phone blew up with text messages. Mostly they were from my boy Matty with comment to the effect of “it’s over” and “The Price Is Right is on Channel 4.”

I was sitting in the same position. Sam Cassell is running down the court, I turn to my wife and tell her, “Watch this, he’ll stop short, not pass, take a 15 footer and miss.” And as if he were reading a script Cassell did exactly that and the Cavs rebounded the ball.

My column today was going to start with an old guy, sitting in a chair and playing taps. I texted my crew to hit the Fleet (er, Boston Garden), trumpet in hand and start blowing taps.

But then it happened. Instead of coaching the team like an NHL coach that he did in game four, Doc made a smart decision. He pulled Cassell. Not only did he pull him, but he stayed on the bench the rest of the game.

So Rondo placed back in the game, he ended up playing 42 minutes, blew up. Rondo scored 20 points on 9 of 15 shooting but the stat that jumps off the page, besides the 42 minutes played, was his 13 assists. Welcome to the show Rajon. Next time Doc tries to yank you from the game, punch him in the gut and tell him to take a lozenge and sit his ass down.

It’s amazing when you let your starters play 40+ minutes (Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett) how much better the team performs. All four had double digit points, KG even had a double double with 26 and 16.

Now the bad. By relying on the jump shot for a majority of your scoring, you’re going to get to the line a lot less than the other team. Especially when the other team has Cry-Baby James at the helm. The Cavs were at the line 41 times, the Celtics 23. The Celtics number is inflated too because all the fouls in the final two minutes of the game that had Pierce living at the line.

Worse that the free throw disparity? Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne. Will someone please for the love of God and all things Holy please contact TNT/TBS and let them know that we’re not interested in that piece of fecal matter. The fact that it’s one of the higher rated cable TV shows doesn’t change the fact that the Boston market won’t watch, um ever. So please stop advertising.

So now the series shifts to the road again. Will Doc keep with these decisions or go back into Don Cherry mode shifting lines at will? Hopefully it’s the former and Sunday’s game at the Fleet will be a game one in the Conference Finals, opposed to a game seven against the Cavs.

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