After every game, we’ll take stock of how each individual performance affects the player’s overall value.
Starters
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Offense:
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I tried to tell everyone Avery Bradley would be a game changer, and people still wanted to say “unless he grows a foot, I don’t see it happening”. Well, now you see it happening. His pressure all over the floor not only forces turnovers, it forces teams out of their rhythm because they can start so late in the shot clock. That helps everyone, even the bigs. He doesn’t fix everything, but he helps a lot.
It also helped a LOT that he found his shot in the 2nd half.
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Offense:
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Anyone got any tweezers? I want to get KG out from under Melo’s skin.
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Offense:
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Remember when did our season preview and we compared the C’s to The Walking Dead? We didn’t realize how appropriate the undead zombie reference would be. How many times has Paul Pierce been written off? Go ask Spike Lee how alive Paul Pierce is.
Brilliant performance. I once again stood in awe of Pierce’s ability to not only score, but make the right play. The pass underneath to Bradley when all 5 Knicks were focused on stopping Pierce was beautiful.
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Offense:
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Bass didn’t do a whole lot in last night’s game, but the reason for the overall green arrow is that when it came time for Bass to do something, he did it. He hit three shots… but the shot he hit with five minutes to go in the 4th was huge. Sometimes your number won’t be called… but when it is, you’d better be ready. Bass was.
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Offense:
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The same goes for Terry, whose shot was way off last night. But how huge was the pass to Pierce to break the 86-all tie? He drew Tyson Chandler perfectly, and set Pierce up for an emphatic slam… and the C’s never trailed again. Terry had 5 assists in the game, which is important on a night you’re not making shots.
Bench
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Offense:
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The C’s needed this one from Green. And he chipped in 6 rebounds and 3 assists to provide a nice, complete game off the bench when Pierce suffered early foul trouble. Green was second in +/- at a +8.
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Offense:
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“Avery and Courtney’s pressure changed the game”
I’m a big fan of Lee and Bradley out there at the same time. I’ve been pushing for it now for the last few games and last night we saw how disruptive they can be.
Manage the minutes correctly, and you can cut down on the need for Rondo to play 40 minutes just by letting these two guys trigger transition offense.
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Offense:
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This dude… this dude is just a beast. Oh, he’ll make plenty of mistakes as the season continues, but one thing he’ll never do is get out-worked. The buzzer-beating offensive rebound & put back was a thing of beauty. It was hustle… effort… smarts…
There I go gushing again.
Oh, he was a +9. He leads the team in overall +/- for the season. Chew on that.
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Offense:
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This is going to be Barbosa’s role… energy and scoring off the bench. 8 points and 3 assists in 13 minutes off the bench is spectacular.
Coaching
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Substitutions:
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He said after the game he felt dirty opening in a zone, but he said assistant coach Kevin Eastman pushed and pushed and pushed for it… and it worked to start the game. I’m hoping he saw the power of the Bradley/Lee combo, and figured out a way to cut back on the over-use of Rondo.
If there’s one positive in the Rondo suspension, it’s that maybe Doc was forced to see that you can play him 35 minutes instead of 40 and be OK. Maybe that extra 5 minutes on the bench can up Rondo’s energy on the defensive end.
Overall
This was a dirty, gritty, grimy win. The Celtics gave, and took, a lot in this one. This was a ridiculously entertaining game that was made infinitely better by the fact that the C’s wore the Knicks down and came away with a win.
The C’s are now just 6 games behind New York, 3 games out of the 4th seed, and 4 games out of 3rd. They now have 5 games in a row at home, and not a back-to-back in sight for weeks. The teams coming up: Phoenix, Houston, Charlotte, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland… all winnable games.
IF…. the Celtics continue to play like they’ve played… the All Star break standings could look significantly different from today’s.
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