The Celtics continued their exhibition season with a trip to the city of brotherly love. I'm sure getting a cheese steak, ringing the Liberty Bell or watching highlights of the Phillies would have been more interesting to Philly fans (as evidenced by the empty Wells Fargo Center), there were a few noteworthy items from this game. Doc Rivers decided to give KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rondo, Shaq and Delonte West the night off, leaving plenty of minutes to go around for the bubble players as well as Jermaine O'Neal, Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels and Big Baby. Amazingly, the C's almost stole a win from the young Sixers.
Q1: The first quarter begins with a hysterical "Yeeaaahh it's Mike & Tommy" spot from Shaq, much to the delight of Mike Gorman. Other highlights include:
- A nice drive by Von Wafer
- An out-of-bounds home run play started by JO, to Big Baby, to Nate for the lay-in
- An Andre Iguodala transition slam
- Big Baby conducting a scoring clinic (jumper, left-handed drive, right-handed jump-hook)
- KG, Shaq and Pierce fooling around during a timeout
- Nate drilling a three
- Von Wafer getting free for a lay-in
- Solid defensive set leading to a Philly air ball
- JO's rebounding clinic
- Marquis Daniels taking a charge
- Nate getting T'd up
- Avery Bradley's defense
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdenU3gSugI&w=445&h=275]
Q2: The second quarter begins with a nice post play featuring Stephane Lasme laying it in. Other highlights include:
- Some Bradley jumpers (including misses) just to see what his shooting form looks like… decent stroke
- A Wafer steal leading to a Quis transition jam
- Bradley's first made jumper
- Gorman's thoughts on Marquis shooting 1,000 threes per day in the off-season
- The Mario West chase-down block on Jodie Meeks
- Harangody playing some solid defense
- Nate's x-rated thoughts on getting his arm slashed on the way to the hoop
- More solid team defense, followed by board crashing leading to a Lasme up-and-under reverse lay-up… Lasme then hustles back for a rejection on Thaddeus Young
- Harangody drilling some threes
- Nice blocks by Lasme and Big Baby
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkNyekaisBE&w=445&h=275]
Q3: The second half begins with Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn discussing how deep the C's are, holding their own against Philly's first unit. Other highlights include:
- JO's solid post defense on Elton Brand
- JO's first field goal as a Celtic… a nice straight-away jumper
- A dual-taken charge by JO and Big Baby
- More rebounding clinics given by JO
- Nate with the ninja-help rejection, followed by tossing a fastball off Evan Turner's head… Welcome to the NBA, rook!
- Big Baby with another nice post move as well as taking another charge
- Nate showing his offensive skills with a drive to the hoop, a three and a nice look-away pass to Big Baby in transition
- Marquis with a solid baseline drop-step
- More JO defense
- An absurd technical foul on JO
- Nate drawing a foul while shooting a desperation three as the shot-clock expires
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt3gtax5ffw&w=445&h=275]
Q4: The final quarter begins with some solid defense that leads to a Mario West transition lay-up attempt. West got fouled on the play and banked in the first free throw. Other highlights include:
- KG "teaching" Harangody about pick and roll defense on the bench
- A Harangody spin move to the basket
- KG and Shaq headbutting on the bench
- Quis working the offensive glass
- Solid one-on-one defense by Semih Erden
- Semih with a left-handed jump hook in the lane
- More Shaq and KG tom foolery on the bench
- Quis nailing a straight-away jumper
- Another Lasme block
- More Erden post moves
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCzeQqSRvM&w=445&h=275]
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