Your Morning Dump… where the rebounds are still bothersome

Herald: Board game doesn't go way of stumbling C's

Sorry Doc.  The Hawks got 16 offensive rebounds last night.  Mike Bibby was the only guard with an offensive rebound.  I can be generous and throw Marvin Williams in there, which will bring the total to two.

No, Doc, you got out-rebounded because the guys just turned and looked at shots going up… not because your bigs were in help all night.

Said Kevin Garnett,
“They’re a different type team, they’re isolation. First time we’ve
really seen isolation basketball like this. They’ve improved.

“They spread you out one-on-one, it’s a lot of isolation basketball. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson, those are two of the best at that. Kudos to them. They beat us up.

“When
you’ve got a guy going one-on-one and we’re trapping and they crash,
they’ve got all four guys, those guys are keeping balls alive. Some
nights it bounces your way and you get them and [last] night they were
the ones to all the balls and they got easy second-chance points. And,
when you get outrebounded, 47-29, that makes it difficult to win.’’

Globe Celtics Notebook

Now we're moving towards a more honest explanation.  It's the basketball equivalent of a football team blitzing and sending more guys than can be blocked.  If you've got 3 defenders trying to keep 4 guys off the boards… then you're going to give up offensive rebounds.  I'll buy that.  BUT… that just means you  have to work harder box out the guys who are coming.  The lack of effort is not excusable.

After the jump, Page 2… where we break it all down on video

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

So here's a key sequence in last night's game.  The Hawks are up 3 and the Celtics, with a stop, could get within 1 or tie with a 3.  The Celtics look to be in a zone with Perk roaming around to help.  The Hawks have Horford under the basket and Josh Smith on the weak side with only Marquis Daniels to keep them off the board… so there's a recipe for disaster.

At the :10 mark, Sheed has gotten beat and Perk has come over to help.  The C's are about to get dunked on for 2 reasons. 

1: Look at Marquis Daniels:  He's got his arms out and it LOOKS like he's boxing out. He'd felt the contact from Al Horford a second ago, but he never maintained it and he's just counting on Horford to still be where he was.

2:  Rasheed Wallace, after getting beat, just stands in his spot.  He sees that Perk is up on the shooter.  He knows that the guards aren't crashing.  And he SHOULD see that two high flying forwards are coming from the weak side.  But he didn't see it, because he, like all the Celtics last night, were watching the ball rather than finding a guy to box out. 

At the :14 mark you see the result of the lapses.  Horford has easily stepped around Marquis Daniels and Smith is right behind him.  What SHOULD have happened is Daniels SHOULD have had his hip on Horford to keep him off the boards… and Sheed SHOULD have been at the top of the circle keeping Smith from doing what Al Horford is about to do.

Sheed didn't rotate over and box out anyone in the middle of the lane.  Marquis didn't box out the guy he was covering.  Both of them were watching the ball rather than finding their man.  They were not alone last night.  The Celtics watched the ball all night long and got blasted on the boards for it.  A little bit of effort on the boards and the Celtics could have put this game away in the 3rd quarter. 

The rest of the links:

Herald:  Bad result not tough to explain  |  Pierce's knee a pain  |  Rival Al Horford begs to differ  |  Globe:  Slow burn |  Atlanta's growth spurt was the biggest factor  |  Pacers Thumbnails  |  When the Celtics need a lift, this little guy rocks the house  |  Camerato:  Three Pointer:  A rival is growing up and a rivalry keeps growing