I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics. Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from New Jersey.
If only Avery blew his lid again in the fourth quarter. With Boston’s starting rotation back in and playing defensively as if they had six guys on the court at points, the Nets were struggling, but clinging to a 78-77 lead with a shade over 6 minutes to go.
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If the Nets took a shot in the fourth quarter, just assumed it was contested by a Boston defender, because it was. In the meantime, Boston was running a master class on confusing Lopez, constantly throwing Rajon Rondo in his direction in a double team, disrupting the center’s bread and butter moves in the post. Having Kendrick Perkins defending you is bad enough. At one point in the fourth, Perkins forced Lopez to receive the ball out at the right corner three point line. Lopez promptly turned the ball over on a terrible pass towards the paint.
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On that note of physicality, the choppiness of these players surprised me. Was Boston trying to send a message to the Nets harkening back to New Jersey’s upset on Boston’s floor last winter? Probably not. A lot of the anger was directed towards Kris Humphries, who threw an elbow in Kevin Garnett’s face, who responded with some intimidating taunting. Hump got thrown by Kendrick Perkins later in the game on a rebound. But beyond Hump, we also saw KG absolutely stick Devin Harris with a pick, earning an offensive foul and after drawing a hard foul from Sasha Vujacic under the rim, Kendrick Perkins clawed The Machines back on the way down, perhaps because Sasha did something to annoy Boston in the Finals two of the past three years.
Great take on the game by Nets blogger Mark Ginocchio. Funny writer who absolutely despises Avery Johnson and Travis Outlaw.
Not much analysis of the game in the NJ papers and blogs, they are all focused on potential trades. Guess I can't blame them.
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