belated game impressions

[Kestas]

I know that probably not too many people care about what happens on the 
court for the Celtics vs. possible trades and the odds of landing Oden 
or Durrant, but what the heck, maybe someone will find this of interest...

I went two games this past week : last night, and also a week ago 
against the Spurs, both courtesy of Kim (thanks, Kim!). Surprisingly, 
the house seemed more full last night (perhaps 3/4ths) than against San 
Antonio (when it appeared to be about 2/3rds full), perhaps because it 
was Sunday night and not as cold.  Even though the end result of both 
games was the same, the ebb-and-flow of the Spurs game was somehow much 
more fun. I don't know if it was because SA are much more professional 
and impressive than the Bulwiz, or that there seemed to be a real 
possibility of defeating the One-Who-Got-Away for the first time ever.

The one thing that you can appreciate better in person than on TV is the 
overall movement of the teams,  especially on defense. This is not 
exactly news to anyone,  but that was the starkest difference between SA 
and Boston - teams just don't get very many unchallenged shots against 
the Spurs. Their defense is a well-coordinated machine, an annoying 
constant. Ours? Well, you know...not so much... Our run in the 4th was 
achieved mainly through brilliant individual play by  Jefferson and 
Delonte, which even momentarily distracted the crowd from watching the 
Jumbotron and fighting for t-shirts.

In contrast, the difference in last night's game was the offensive 
efficiency of Jamison, Butler and, later in the game, Agent Zero. When 
they wanted to score, they scored, and in the second half the efforts of 
Delonte and Gomes just weren't enough to keep up. It didn't help that it 
was Big Al's weakest game in a month. I'm not sure what his problem was 
  last night - he just didn't seem into it. Maybe he'd heard the trade 
rumors of him going to Memphis for Pau :) In any case, the way the Wiz 
just put the pedal to the metal offensively and took off was really 
anticlimactic after a half+ of even play.  With about 4 mins to go and 
suddenly down 19, a mass exodus started, and two stupid kids (well, guys 
their late teens or early 20s) a few rows in front of me started yelling 
"get back in your seats, where you going?!". A minute later they were 
heading for the exit themselves.

In general, though,  the crowd didn't really seem to care much about the 
game itself. The "game presentation",  as Shaughnessy correctly noted in 
the Globe today, has officially taken over as the main attraction at 
Celtics games.

Other notes: I was watching the warm-ups before last night's game and 
I'd estimate that Scalabrine was hitting less than 30% of his shots. In 
contrast, most of the Wizards were sinking nearly every shot, like pro 
players are supposed to do with no one guarding them. Sadly, other than 
Delonte, Gomes, and perhaps Wally,  other Celts weren't that much better 
than Veal. This turned out to be a harbinger for the game.

Kestas