CBW review: Celtics vs. New Jersey Nets

[snoopy1@xxxxxxx]

The answer is: "Games like this one."

That's the answer to the question, "Why doesn't the NBA take the Boston 
Celtics seriously as playoff contenders?"  Or the question, "Why aren't 
Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker getting more All-Star votes?" Or even, "Why 
am I having a stroke whenever someone mentions the Celtics lately?"

Games like this one.

Historically, Boston doesn't do well on national television.  Boston also 
doesn't have much success playing on national holidays.  Further, they 
haven't had a whole lot of success against the Nets lately.  Making them 
play the Nets on national television on Christmas Day proves that whoever 
draws up the schedule is not a Celtics fan.

Boston opened the game with Paul Pierce hitting a  three-point shot.  New 
Jersey responded with aggressive work on both ends of the court, and the 
Celtics looked to be in for a long day.

Between the Celtics turnovers and the Nets offense, New Jersey opened up a 
6-point lead with 7:20 to go.  At this point, I was still annoyed that ABC 
took every opportunity to plug the second game of the Christmas 
doubleheader in La-La Land.  The Lakers are having trouble deciding whether 
to fight each other or the other team, and are near the bottom of the 
standings.  I thought that a match up between the 1-2 teams in the Atlantic 
Division merited at least some plugging.  But the Celtics defense was 
unable to stop New Jersey.  A timeout was called with 6:02 to go, and the 
New Jersey Nets leading 16-8.

The fact is, the game was a lost cause from the opening quarter.  There's 
really no point in detailing each quarter, because each one was worse than 
the one before it.  The Nets led 28-17 at the end of one; 63-40 after the 
half; 95-70 after three, and ended the game 117-81.

Boston never got its defense going.  Their offense was spotty at 
best.  They had no energy, no "flow", no nothing.  By comparison, the Nets 
moved with quickness and accuracy, looked for and found the open man, 
played tight defense, and made their shots most of the time.

There's no one single player to blame.  The entire Celtics team played 
badly, as if they had no idea what was going on.  Defensive assignments 
were missed completely, letting the Nets players take wide open 
shots.  Offensively, the Celtics often made maybe one pass, and then 
someone tried to drive into the teeth of the defense.  Now, going to the 
free throw line isn't a bad ideaunless you keep going 1-2 or 0-2, and then 
letting the opponents get a transition basket.  Things got so bad, that 
commentator Brent Musberger finally said, "We waited 30 years for this?" 
referring to the first ABC telecast of the NBA in many moons.

It was hard to argue with him.

In fact, I give the announcers credit, for repeatedly emphasizing that this 
game was in no way typical of the Celtics normal play.  But it wasn't 
really possible to put a good face on this.

I have to give the Nets their due, thoughthey were playing so well, that 
the C's would have had a tough time beating them even if they were playing 
up to their potentialor at least within 50 miles of that potential.

The C's simply didn't bring their minds and bodies to this game.  They 
really ought to return their paychecks for this one.  Yes, it was that 
bad.  I wouldn't have minded quite so much getting trounced if the Celtics 
had been playing like they had a clue of what the game was about.

But there was nothing here, just a waste of time for all those fans that 
showed up for the game in a snowstorm.  It looked, for a brief moment late 
in the third quarter, that the C's might make one of those staggering 
come-from-behind runs, but it fizzled and died for good early in the fourth 
quarter.

I don't know what Coach O'Brien could have done, besides administering a 
few well-placed kicks in the behinds of all his players.

Frankly, the Celtics owe us an apology for their poor play.  They had a 
chance to make a clear statement to the New Jersey Nets, the NBA, and the 
fans:  "We are For Real."  They made themselves look foolish.  Now, the 
Nets fans will be rejoicing at the expense of the Celtics and the Celtics 
fans.  The pundits will once again scoff at Boston and pencil them out of 
any playoff appearances.  Nobody will exactly tremble with fear at the 
Celtics stepping on their court.

On Friday, they face the Miami Heat, which also kicked their butts all over 
the court last week.  The Guys need to get their stuff together, NOW.  The 
game against Miami needs to be a dominant one.  The Celtics need to beat 
them so badly that descriptions of the game will be used to frighten other 
teams.  They're laughing at us right now.  And they earned the right to do so.

The Celtics better suck it up, or they will become, once again, the 
laughingstock of the NBA.  They'll have to forget the Playoffs, the 
All-Star Game, the Olympics, and say "hello" to LeBron James.

I'm rooting for the Good Guys, but they need to meet us halfway, by playing 
like they want to win.

Otherwise, there'll be more Games Like This One.

And that's the view from the doghouse.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the 
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