CBW review, Celtics vs. Pistons, 2nd quarter

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle]

2nd quarter:
The quarter opened with the Pistons walking up the ball, and the 
Celtics defense collapsed nicely--this was one of several times I saw 
3-4 Celtics under the defensive basket, a marked contrast to the 
prior game, when Al Jefferson was left in the wind.  The C's ran up 
the court, but Delonte pulled up for a three with 20 seconds left on 
the shot clock.  The problem was that with all the C's working the 
defensive basket, nobody was in position to receive an outlet pass, 
letting Detroit stay in front of the ball all the way.  The Celtics 
were also committing silly fouls, as Tony Allen proved the next trip 
up. But justice prevailed once more, as Flip Murray missed both.

I was heartened to see the Celtics continue to send the ball inside 
to Al Jefferson..This will pay big dividends for Boston if they can 
master that on a consistent basis.  I also noted the Al is learning 
when to keep the ball up, and not take it down before making a 
shot.  Less chance of someone taking the ball away from him.

The Celtics were moving the ball well, and moving a little better 
without the ball, allowing Rondo to go up inside for two.  But they 
need to move more, and spread out the opposition defense to make that 
successful on a regular basis.  Detroit was playing Boston for the 
outside shot, so the C's were doing well going inside.  Bur Rondo 
tends to dribble the ball too much, and that gets him into 
trouble.  He needs to get rid of the ball faster when the play develops.

Tony Allen tore the ball away from McDyess on a defensive rebound, 
which was very cool.  Wally came back into the game, leading me to 
think that they're using him in short spurts right now, or at least 
picking those times when they want him on the floor.  Meanwhile, Tony 
Allen can't hit the outside shot.  He really needs to work the inside 
and only take an occasional 18 footer to keep the defense 
honest.  Wally saved what was nearly another blown transition 
basket.  This led to a timeout with 9:27 to go in the half, and 
Boston still ahead, 29-24.

As time went back in, it was weird to see Dave Cowens on the Piston's 
bench as an assistant coach.  I have to admit, I wondered for a 
moment if he'd make a good coach for Boston, but what little I heard 
about his coaching record wasn't so hot.  The Celtics blew another 
transition opportunity when the wrong man had the ball.  I'm glad to 
hear--and occasionally see--the Celtics running, but they have to 
move with purpose or the running does them no good.  This is not to 
say the game is going at the pace of a slug in molasses like when Jim 
O'Brien coached, but I believe the Celtics need to start outrunning 
the opposition defense more.  Someone needs to drop back faster and 
be ready for the outlet pass--and when that DOES happen, the rest of 
the guys need to look up more before settling for a quick dribbling 
up the court.

Bob Cousy commented that considering the shooting woes of the 
Pistons, the Celtics should be ahead by a larger margin.  He was 
right, there had been a few bad shots, but most of the misses were 
from good looks at the hoop.  Another area of fundamentals to work 
on--if you're going to be a running team, with minimal defense, you 
HAVE to make your baskets.

Rasheed Wallace then scored his first points of the season, with 8:27 
left in the first half--and this was the Piston's second regular 
season game!  I hoped that a similar amount of time would pass before 
he scored again, but looked at the Celtics defense and realized the 
odds weren't so good on that happening.

Tony Allen drove to the hoop this time, but looked obviously like he 
was playing for the foul, which they called--but it was a possession 
foul, which meant no free throws.  This brought Pierce off the Bench, 
whilst Tony took a seat.  Next play, Rondo got robbed when the ball 
popped out, but he and Olowokandi did a great job following up and 
keeping possession.  This set up a nice play for Wally to go to the 
hoop.  I think Wally's having trouble playing from outside, and the 
inside moves are working because the defense expects him to pull up 
and take a three.

On the ensuing possession,the Celtics once more converged on the 
basket and came away with the rebound.  But once more, there were 
three guys under the hoop, one more along the baseline and only Wally 
headed back upcourt.  That makes the outlet pass predictable, 
assuming someone looks up to start with.  But once more, any attempt 
at a fast break was stifled by the Piston's defense.  The Celtics 
were not getting any chances to run the open court and beat the 
Detroit defense.  Al Jefferson was fouled, and his second free throw 
was the first Celtics missed free throw, making them 7-8,  with 7:28 
left in the half.  I hoped the miss was an aberration and the Good 
Guys would continue to take full advantage of their trips to the line.

I was concerned that the Celtics were giving Billups all the time he 
needed to set up offensive plays--nobody was harassing him, or 
rushing him, so he could dribble and wait for a teammate to be 
open.  On this particular play, the ball stayed in Chauncey's hands 
for 14 of 24 seconds, only passing the ball when McDyess was open 
under the hoop.  The Celtics were playing decent defense, given the 
obvious weaknesses, but the Pistons were too good at finding each other.

But on the other end, the Pistons defense broke down as Pierce faced 
single coverage and got the ball close to the hoop for an easy jump 
shot.  This is EXACTLY the kind of offensive play they need to run 
for Pierce.  Let him move without the ball, get in near the lane, 
then hand over the pumpkin for an easy two against single 
coverage.  He can do that to about 97% of the opponents, and the rest 
he can back off for the three and/or drive to the hoop and draw a 
foul.  Next trip up, Wally gets rewarded for passing the ball on the 
previous trip as he hits the open jumper.  Detroit called time with 
6:24 left in the half and the Celtics maintaining a 36-28 lead.

When time came back in, the Pistons let their Point guard once more 
handle the ball, which led to another McDyess jumper.  The Celtics 
offense was getting slower and slower as Olowokandi barely beat the 
shot clock when he put the ball up for two.  But the halfcourt game 
is exactly what the Pistons wanted, as they were bigger and more 
easily able to fight the ball inside for baskets over the smaller 
Celtics.  McDyess was sparking the Pistons on the offensive side and 
I could see the Good Guys were in serious trouble after McDyess stole 
the inbound pass, which led to another Detroit basket.  The Pistons 
were becoming more and more confident, making aggressive plays at the 
basket.  Meanwhile, the Celtics began committing more turnovers, 
which was a very bad idea, given that the C's really needed to make 
as few mistakes as possible if they wanted to win.  Perkins, Gomes, 
and Telfair came back in for Olowokandi, Jefferson, and Rondo in an 
attempt to stifle the Pistons' momentum and shore up the Celtics 
increasing lethargy.

But Telfair almost instantly picked up his third foul, another silly 
foul, which put Rondo back in the game before he could sit 
down.  Meanwhile Detroit made the most of the latest trip to the free 
throw line, once more closing in on the C's.  Rasheed returned the 
favor by fouling Pierce, who went to the line to shoot two, making 
both.  I have to say that Pierce's release on the free throws looks a 
little awkward, making me wonder if he's not unconsciously still 
favoring the elbow that was operated on over the summer.  But at this 
juncture, Boston was shooting 90% at the line, going 9-10, by far 
their best free throw shooting half of the last two months, counting 
preseason.  Between the free throws and the defensive 
rebounding--combined with Detroit still missing a few easy shots here 
and there, the C's were barely able to maintain their lead, but were 
totally unable to extend that lead.

Perkins lost a basket when an offensive three seconds was called on 
Pierce was called, and even Cousy speculated it was a makeup call. 
Perk has obviously been working on that hook shot, it looks pretty 
good, though you can spot the setup a mile away.  He needs to learn 
to flow into the shot, but the shot itself looks good.  The Celtics 
were still moving the ball up too slowly, but they were at least 
passing the pumpkin around looking for the open man, Gomes hitting 
the shot this time up.

But Hamilton was really starting to heat up, hitting a deep two, 
despite decent defense just inside the arc.  But the Celtics managed 
another turnover, and time was called with 2:10 to go in the half and 
Boston still ahead, 42-40.  During the halftime, the crowd endured 
another appearance by the Moosiers, who, so far as I could tell, 
don't really dance as much as they bounce around the floor almost in 
unison.  Thank goodness for Tivo.

When time came back in, the Celtics reverted to their standby play 
when the offense goes nowhere--hand the ball to Pierce, and let him 
draw a shooting foul. The problem is, this puts a LOT of wear and 
tear on Pierce, and the rest of the team needs to step up and play 
better instead of constantly making Pierce salvage a bad offensive 
set.  But just as Tommy Heinsohn was commenting that Pierce was 
practicing following through on his free throws and making them, he 
failed to do so on the second attempt, nearly missing it!  Talk about 
demonstrating a point!

As the Pistons brought up the ball, Rondo got mugged by Billups, who 
elbowed the young Rondo out of his way, then did a nice stunt fall to 
pretend that Rondo hit him.  Sadly, the ref fell for the performance, 
which qualifies Billups for an Emmy nomination.   Give Rondo 
credit,all he did was get back up and move close in as the ball came 
back in, forcing Billups to give it up.  Detroit was unable to 
convert, so the Good Guys won out in the end of that situation.

Detroit pulled an obvious goaltend at the other end, robbing Pierce 
of a basket.  The refs, apparently, were busy elsewhere, perhaps 
admiring the Moosiers on the sidelines.  You'd think at least ONE of 
three guys would be watching the ball, but the Pistons ran almost 
unopposed to the other end for two as the Celtics were still shocked 
there was no call on the obvious goaltend.  The refs  did manage to 
return from their break in time to whistle Wally for traveling on the 
next play, however.  Granted, he WAS travelling, but there also WAS a 
goaltend.  The refs aren't making themselves look good right now, and 
Tommy Heinsohn was being remarkably restrained.

After a tough defensive stand to keep Detroit from scoring again, 
Boston had the ball and a chance for the final shot of the 
half.  Pierce was fouled on his way to the hoop, and then Billups was 
hit with a technical foul to boot!  Wally went up to shoot the "T", 
which I thought was odd, since Pierce was having himself a good night 
at the line.  But he sank it, so no harm done.  Al Jefferson came in 
for Perkins for defensive reasons, then Pierce stepped up to shoot 
his free throws.  But his follow through wasn't there and Pierce 
missed the first shot, after which, Delonte West and Tony Allen came 
back into the game.

As this happened, in referring to the technical foul called on 
Billups, FSNE showed a statistic listing the relative number of 
technical fouls and ejections called this season as compared to last 
season at this time.  In the first 17 NBA games last season, there 
were a total of 6 technical fouls called and one ejection.  This 
season, after 17 games, there had been 29 technicals called and four 
ejections, an increase of nearly 500%!  The whistles were blowing 
freely, perhaps the refs venting a little themselves.  It was not a 
rule change, they could ALWAYS make those calls for "overly 
demonstrative behavior", but simply saying that NO such behavior 
would be tolerated took away the wiggle room most players had previously.

Pierce then attempted his second free throw, which went in.  With 
just over four seconds left, the Pistons ran the ball up, and 
Hamilton launched a time clock three with one second left, that 
bounced around and went in as the buzzer sounded.  The first half 
ended with the Celtics lead now cut to 46-45.

Halftime:

So far, I had to admit, the Celtics had been able to maintain the 
lead throughout the first half by a combination of a MUCH improved 
game at both ends of the court, combined with some miserable Detroit 
shooting early in the first quarter.  Boston was running, but not 
fast beak running, only beating the Pistons back once or twice in the 
half.  I doubted the Celtics could win a halfcourt game against the 
Pistons, who were much bigger than the Celtics.  Hamilton and Rasheed 
were warming up, and they could do considerable damage if they got 
loose.  Boston's halfcourt game could be best summed up by, today's 
comic strip "Cleats" by Bill Hinds:

(I can't include the graphic here, it doesn't seem to work when I try 
to include graphics in my reviews, please see the review on the CBW, 
or read today's comic strips.  It's really quite funny.)

That's pretty much what the Celtics are up against.

The Celtics were shooting 44% to the Piston's 37%, but Detroit was 
getting more shots, and the Celtics had committed 8 turnovers, where 
Detroit had none.  I was amazed to see that the Celtics were 
outrebounding Detroit 27-22, but that was partly a product of some of 
the Piston's poor performance in the opening quarter.  Given 
this--and the one point difference at the half, told me the Celtics 
really needed to step it up or Detroit would make this a long 
night.  Thanks to commercials and Tivo, I bypassed the Moosiers, and 
went to the second half of the game.

Next...the third quarter!

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website