Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
After a sports day full of controversy, bad behavior and total dickishness, let’s just get back to basketball.
No. 6 (up from No. 9)
Friday night’s double-OT thriller with the defending champs was one of the most memorable nights of the season for the Committee, largely because the atmosphere was so good. The Celts really do have the personnel to make Steph Curry work; imagine how feisty the evening would have been had Marcus Smart been available for duty.
ESPN – NBA Power Rankings: Week 7
No. 6 (up from No. 9)
The Celtics came up short against the champs, but won their two more important games – vs. Chicago and at Charlotte – last week, improving to 4-5 against the other nine East teams over .500, with three more games against that group this week. Their offense continues to be shaky, but their defense has held seven of their last 10 opponents, including two top-six offenses over the weekend, under a point per possession.
NBA.com – Power Rankings: Warriors, still No. 1, move on
No. 8 (up from No. 11)
Two strong weeks have the Celtics in great shape in the standings and boasting a top-five defensive rating. Boston responded well to a challenging section of its schedule, nearly became the first team to topple Golden State and can prove itself further with Cleveland, Detroit and Atlanta next up.
Sports Illustrated – NBA Power Rankings: Celtics, Hornets crash the top of Eastern standings
No. 5 (up from No. 13)
Pushed the Warriors to double OT, then beat the very-good Hornets on the back to back. If you ask me how they’re doing this, other than A. defense and B. Brad Stevens has uncovered some sort of secret book of spells, I have no idea. Jared Sullinger is shooting terribly and has an incredible net rating. Nothing makes sense, but the Celtics are a top team in the East.
CBS Sports – NBA Power Rankings: Warriors still No. 1 (barely), Thunder take off
Monday must be power rankings day for national websites, because all of these lists were released yesterday, and the Celtics were looking pretty darned…powerful.
Power rankings reflect wins, losses and statistics, but are mostly based on the eye test – opinions of the writers about who’s hot and who’s not. Even the loss to Golden State helped Boston in that regard; while there may be no moral victories for Brad and the players, their effort and competitiveness clearly helped elevate their rankings.
Those of us who watch the Celtics regularly can see how they are coming together as a team. It’s good news that national media outlets are recognizing it and rewarding it.
On Page 2: What’s more important, record or ratings?
Four of the five most improved teams in terms of net rating this season can credit huge improvements to their defenses. The outlier — Charlotte — has also seen its defense improved modestly, though its rise is more dependent on a massive leap in offensive efficiency. For the other four teams, it’s been all about the defense.
SB Nation – The Wolves and Hornets are the NBA’s most improved teams. Are they for real?
At 14 wins and 10 losses, the Celtics are four victories better than they were after 24 games last year. Yet, they aren’t among the five squads covered in this article because it measures improvement based not on W-L record but on combined offensive and defensive efficiency ratings.
Honestly, I get it that analytics are the way to go in today’s NBA. If you don’t grasp the concepts of advanced stats, it’s difficult to blog about, or have a conversation about, basketball in 2015.
Nevertheless, the standings that appear on NBA.com and in my morning paper (dinosaur here, supporting the struggling newspaper industry) are based on wins, not on points scored per 100 possessions. With all due respect, it seems to me that any inspection of improvement should start with team record. If a team has won more games than last year, that’s the headline. The efficiency ratings are then the reasons for the improvement, not the other way around.
If you look at it that way, the Wolves and Magic have each gained four wins over last season, and thus are even with Boston. The Heat have improved three games, so are behind the Celtics. And the Knicks (11-14 vs. 5-20) and Hornets (14-9 vs. 6-17) are very much improved.
Is this splitting hairs? Perhaps. But statistics – whether basic or advanced – are fundamental to sports, and I’m simply in the old-school camp. So now that we’re straight on that…
On Page 3: Which NBA floor is unique? Give you one guess…
Tromp through the forests of the Upper Midwest—think Wisconsin and Michigan, specifically—and you’ll run across plenty of acer saccharum or hard maple, the kind that makes up 29 of 30 NBA hardwood courts. […]
Not only can the differing woods provide looks around the court, but other floors, such as the parquet pattern in Orlando and Boston or the herringbone in Brooklyn, create a pattern on the 94-by-50 playing surface by placing differing grades of wood. Of course, Boston has always bucked tradition with its red oak floor.
Sports Illustrated – Facts about floors: Detailing the process behind NBA hardwood courts
You can learn something new every day about the NBA and the Celtics. Typically, any discussion about Boston’s court centers on the parquet pattern (we had it decades before Orlando copied it) or alleged dead spots in the old Boston Garden. But who knew only the Celts play on a floor that’s not maple?
And, finally: Ho, ho, ho
The Celtics did a good thing on Monday, spreading holiday cheer at two events for pediatric patients from Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. These photos were posted to the team’s Instagram account. Nice antlers, Kelly.
The Rest of the Links:
ESPN Boston – Nothing cavalier about Kelly Olynyk’s newfound offensive aggression
CSNNE – Tale of the tape: Celtics ready to roll with Cavs
Globe – Celtics say they have moved on from playoff loss to Cavaliers
Herald – Celtics Notebook: Winning convincing-Lee | Bulpett: Tasty subplots on Celts-Cavs menu
Boston.com – The most popular NBA Vine of all-time was shot at TD Garden
ESPN – Kevin Love looks back on shoulder injury upon Boston return
SB Nation – Rajon Rondo reminds us of the homophobia and hatred of referees we allow to fester
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