tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48531461532790853252024-02-20T03:13:24.084-05:00Delusions Of GrandeSean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-88614183500947121372012-06-09T19:23:00.000-04:002012-06-09T19:46:14.438-04:00Open - Celtics at Miami Game 7 - June 9, 2012<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Five years ago,
the Celtics took the 15 minute bus ride from their Miami hotel, here to
American Airlines Arena. The same ride
we took tonight. It was the final road
game of one of the worst seasons in Celtics history. 58 losses, an 18-game losing streak and no
real signs of the clouds parting. Hours
earlier, 32 people were killed in a senseless, mindless, soul crushing massacre
at Virginia Tech. Riding to the arena
that night, I remember wondering if a Celtics game would ever feel like it
mattered again, if a Celtics game could ever resonate joy like it had so many
times…so many years earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Two weeks ago,
the Celtics also faced a Game 7. But it
was never going to end there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The end of the
New Big Three era began the second the era itself began. It’s been five years of clocks ticking and windows
closing. It’s been three years of trade
rumors and rebuilding scenarios.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And yet here, on
the 9<sup>th</sup> of June in 2012. With
27 other teams on vacation, they’re still standing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The borderline
obsession with the end of the era has almost entirely overshadowed the simple fact..that
the era itself hasn’t yet ended. Despite
the daily question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Doc Rivers has
been asked. So has Paul Pierce. And Kevin, and Ray, all of us have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Is this the last
ride?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Their answers
have been scrutinized, hidden clues sought, double meanings interpreted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But they’ve all
answered the question. They’ve been answering
it every day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Not with their
words, but with their games. Not with
their minds, but with their heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The games themselves
are the answer. These playoff
performances that have erased an uninspired regular season that featured at
times, losses no legitimate contender could possibly suffer. More 25-plus point losses this year than the
previous four combined? A 5-9 start,
under .500 at the all-star break? And
yet tonight, one win from the Finals. You really think they haven’t answered the question?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ask Doc Rivers
if this is the end. He’ll tell you he hasn’t thought about it. Then he’ll bond
this team with a voice of unanimity and a single mind of purpose. And coach
with such force in Game 5 in Miami, coach with so much of himself, that it left
a permanent mark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ask Paul Pierce
if this is the end. He’ll shake off the question. And then carry the Celtics through
a must-win Game 2 in Atlanta without Rajon Rondo. And bleed on the sidelines having
fouled out, hoping for one more turn at bat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ask Ray Allen if
this is the end. He’ll talk about how you never really know. And then he’ll
ride out searing pain in an ankle that has a date with a surgeon…soon. And he’ll
stand in front of Dwayne Wade as if he wasn’t a 36 year old on one leg and fight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And ask Kevin
Garnett if this is the end. You won’t get anything close to an answer. But that’s only because you’re listening, not
looking. For the three years since the
injury in Salt Lake, more than a few said he’d never be the same. That his best
years were now behind him. Instead, he
whipped those voices in his head into a frenzy of doubters that he alone, must
defeat. The result, a season at 36 years old unprecedented in the league’s
history. Dominating a new position they said he couldn’t play, taking shots they said he wouldn’t take. And making them. Again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Do these Celtics
know the final chapter of this era has arrived? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Of course they
do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The answer’s been on the court every night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But there is
also the reality of the moment. A Game 7
on the road. In a series, the Celtics
have been outscored by the Heat. They’ve
been out shot, they’ve been outrebounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Youth is against
the Celtics tonight. Health is against
the Celtics tonight. So is the building.
Logic, history, everything we know about the NBA says the Celtics can’t win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">No team, no
franchise has made more basketball history than the Boston Celtics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And tonight, five years after reclaiming their birthright place among the NBA elite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Four years after
regaining the throne. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Three years
after a dominant title defense season. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Two years after
an improbable run that left them inches from the title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And one year
after they decided to go all-in one last time…the obstacle course of the
shortened season...and the self-inflicted elongated playoffs…has brought them
here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is one final
night…one final chance…at one last Final.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And one last
resonant moment of joy, to add to a list five years ago…you couldn’t possibly
have dreamed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">_________________________________________________</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(Just for
perspective, I went back to see if I’d said anything about Virginia Tech at the start of our
broadcast that night, April 16, 2007. I hadn't remembered it, but this is how we opened that show…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">WE ARE LIVE AT THE AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA IN <st1:city w:st="on">MIAMI</st1:city>. I’M SEAN GRANDE.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">IN ABOUT 60 SEOCNDS…WE’RE GOING TO START OUR SHOW…THE
CELTICS TONIGHT OPEN WILL HIT AND WE’LL BRING YOU TONIGHT’S CELTICS GAME WITH
THE HEAT.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">BUT WE PAUSE..IN THE UNSETTLING WAKE OF THIS MORNING’S
MASSACRE AT VIRGINIA TECH. MAKING A
BASKETBALL GAME..AT FIRST GLANCE..EVEN MORE TRIVIAL THAN NORMAL.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">ONE DAY AFTER WE CELEBRATED THE 60<sup>TH</sup>
ANNIVERSARY OF JACKIE ROBINSON
INTEGRATING BASEBALL. A DAY THAT REMINDS
US WHY WE CHOSE SPORTS AS A PROFESSION…A DAY THAT REMINDS US WE’RE PROUDEST
WHEN SPORTS LEADS SOCITEY..RATHER THAN FOLLOWS IT.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">ONE DAY LATER…A DIFFERENT KIND OF REMINDER. OF WHAT IT IS WE DO..AND WHY WE DO IT.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A DAY IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE OUR NATURE EVEN <i>HAS</i> BETTER ANGELS.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">THEY SAY SOMETIMES THAT THERE’S SPORTS..AND THERE’S THE REAL
WORLD. BUT THEY FORGET THAT SPORTS OFTEN
IS…WHAT THE REAL WORLD SHOULD BE…AND AS WE WERE SO BRUATLLY REMINDED TODAY…WHAT
IT SO OFTEN IS NOT.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A PLACE TO FIND JOY…WHEN JOY SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A PLACE WHERE CONFLICT IS RESOLVED THROUGH COMPETITION…NOT
VIOLENCE. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A PLACE TO FIND INSPIRATION IN WHAT CAN BE ARDOUSLY
ACHIEVED…NOT WHAT CAN SO EASILY BE DESTROYED.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">GOD BLESS THE 32 WHO LOST THEIR LIVES THIS MORNING IN BLACKSBURG.
AND MAY THEY FIND PEACE NOW IN THIER
WORLDS...AS WE GO ABOUT THE BUSINESS…OF WHAT BRINGS <st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place> PEACE IN OURS.</span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-1271171125951199132012-04-29T14:05:00.003-04:002012-04-29T14:05:41.033-04:00A Celtics Playoff Kiss From A Rose?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">April 29, 2012</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">2:05pm</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Atlanta, GA</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So it’s been 20
hours since the ACL-tear that broke Twitter, and likely the Bulls chances of a
championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Let's for the moment put aside the blame of the lockout (sorry, I'm not on the bandwagon with this one. Sadly, Max and I have been talking about something like this happening to Rose since he came into the league jumping sideways). What is striking is how quickly everyone has advanced the Celtics ahead eight wins on their NBA Playoff Chutes and Ladders board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Hey I get it.
It’s completely natural to think about a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Final.
Never mind the fact that we’re still hours away from the Celtics’ first playoff
<i>game</i>…in their first playoff <i>series</i>…which is <i>not</i> against Chicago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And since I’m
getting all bloggy from a hotel room in Atlanta, I’d remind everyone that the
Celtics, will not even have home-court advantage against the Hawks, let alone
anyone else. Of course the Celtics came
within a couple of rebounds of winning the championship two years ago, playing
their third straight series without home court.
But what that team did, beating the top two seeds in the East on the
road, was a pretty rare occurrence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So using my own
brilliant idea, and having our buddy Adam (@StatsAdam…follow him if you’re in
to this stuff) do all the hard work, we came up with this. Since the NBA
Playoffs went to 16 teams in 1984, only seven teams have won multiple-series
without home court advantage. Only two
(The ’99 short-season Knicks and the ’95 Rockets) won three such series, with
those Rockets of course winning four and the championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; text-transform: uppercase;">Team
since 1983-84 to win multiple series without home-court advantage</span></u><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
<b><span style="background: white;">’10
Celtics</span></b><span style="background: white;">: 2 series (4<sup>th</sup>
seeded Bos beat #1 Cle & # 2 Orl)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">-Had home-court
advantage in 1st round, but won multiple series without home-court advantage</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><b><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">‘09 Magic</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">: 2 series (3rd-seeded Orl beat #2 Bos & #1 Cle)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Had home-court advantage in 1st round, but won
multiple series without home-court advantage</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: white;">‘99
Knicks</span></b><span style="background: white;">: 3 series (8th seeded NYK beat
#1 Mia, #4 Atl & #2 Ind)</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Did not have home-court advantage at all<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">’95 Rockets</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> 4 series (5th seeded Hou won title)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Did not have home-court advantage at all</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: white;">'94
Pacers</span></b><span style="background: white;">: 2 series (5th-seeded Ind beat
#4 Orl & #1 Atl)</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Did not have home-court advantage at all<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">‘89
Bulls:</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> 2 series
(6th-seeded Chi beat #3 Cle & #2 NYK)</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Did not have home-court advantage at all</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: white;">‘87
Sonics</span></b><span style="background: white;">: 2 series (7th-seeded Sea beat
#2 Dal & #6 Hou)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">-Did not have home-court advantage at all</span></span><span style="color: green; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Oh, and by the
way, I’m all for convenience and saying something that sounds good rolling off
the tongue, but for the record, <i><u>the
Celtics do not have the best record</u></i> in the NBA, or even the East <i><u>since the all-star break.</u></i> That would be the Spurs and Bulls,
respectively. But pulling these numbers,
two things jumped out at me…Memphis, and Miami. Here are the 16 playoff teams since the break....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">SAN ANTONIO 26-6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">CHICAGO 23-8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">BOSTON 24-10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">MEMPHIS 22-10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">DENVER 20-11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">INDIANA 21-12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">ATLANTA 20-12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">OKC 20-12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">UTAH 21-13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">NEW YORK 19-12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">LA LAKERS 21-14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">MIAMI 19-13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">LA CLIPPERS 20-15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">ORLANDO 15-16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">DALLAS 15-17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">PHILADELPHIA 15-17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Now, why the reality
check? It’s not to put a damper on the playoff opener for the Celtics as they
begin the last ride of the Big Three. I
point out the monumental, long shot task that lies in front of them because if
you’ve watched this team the last two months, and the last five years, you
know, quite simply, they’ve got a shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Which is all you
want this time of year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And none of this
conversation is a knock at the Hawks.
None of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Last week during
the pseudo-exhibition game the Celtics staged here in Atlanta last Friday, conceding home court by sitting Pierce,
Garnett, Rondo, Allen and Pietrus, a Hawks employee came at me somewhat
bitterly during halftime, complaining about the makeshift lineup that
disappointed the crowd and threatened to make a mockery of the game. He felt the Celtics should have played all their stars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It seemed he wanted to vent, so I let him. But as he walked away I told
him don’t worry…they’ll be here next week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The Hawks had a<i> very</i> good year, 40 wins, 6<sup>th</sup>
in scoring differential and they did it without their best player. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But be careful
what you ask for, you just may get it…on national television.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-10289636298338726672012-04-27T11:02:00.002-04:002012-04-28T19:13:31.769-04:00Anonymity and Award Votes..Dangerous In The Wrong Hands<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’m not sure
when exactly it happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Media,
communication, society, it all changes pretty fast these days. But at some
point, probably somewhere in-between My Space and Facebook, the concept of anonymity
started to become a problem. It was manageable
then, the occasional encoded e-mail address and what not. But with Twitter, it’s
now an epidemic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And of course
the problem isn’t anonymity, it’s a wonderful thing if you’re fortunate enough
to have it. The problem, is that it comes with a certain amount of
entitlement. That lack-of-awareness,
fake-tough bravery that usually comes after too much to drink, or for those of
us new parents, not nearly enough sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">People say the
nastiest, vicious, twisted things when armed with a keyboard and the
invisibility cloak of the internet. They are, more often than not, the same
people that would smile, shake your hand or ask for an autograph if they saw
you in person. It’s a disturbing, ugly trend. I mean, sure it is. But it’s an absurdly small price
to pay for the freedom of speech we’re blessed to have and the extraordinary age
of technology in which we exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There are 100
million people on Twitter. If a few dozen backwards teenagers, bred in ignorance,
tweet something offensive after Joel Ward scores the overtime goal for the
Capitals, it’s not a story unless we make it one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Morons have
existed from the beginning of time. So has classlessness, ignorance and hate.
And they always will. Progress isn’t eliminating them, that’s a noble idea but
it can’t be done. Progress is recognizing it, isolating it and going on with
life in the real world while the increasing minority of people fueled by race
and hate grows extinct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It’s how we got
rid of disco, Members Only jackets and Lava Lamps. Just give it time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Anyway, the
point is that as big a fan of anonymity as I am…I don’t think post-season award
ballots should be anonymous. Never have.
I’ve been voting for NBA MVP, and the other awards, for fourteen years now. It’s
a privilege, not a right. And I think with that privilege, comes a certain
amount of accountability. I’ve always made my ballot public and I think
everyone should. If you’re “expert”
enough to get a vote, you should be able to defend your choices, that’s all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">With that in mind, I’ll
be submitting my ballots to the league shortly, and here’s what they’ll look
like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">ALL-NBA<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I always begin
here. By picking the top 15 guys in the league, it starts my process in picking
the five for my MVP ballot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And the
strangest thing about the All-NBA team this year? In fact, the strangest thing maybe about this
truly strange NBA season? The center
spot. For years now, it’s actually been
a struggle to find three centers worthy of all-star consideration. You’d convince
yourself that Tim Duncan was playing center even if he wasn’t, or that Nene was
really underrated. It was a
struggle. This year, if you call Duncan
a center, there were legitimately seven guys competing for the third spot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dwight Howard
will get hurt in all the categories, Defensive Player, MVP, all-NBA because of
the (self-inflicted) drama of his season and the fact he missed the final two
weeks. But he’s still the gold standard at the position, and played the same number
of minutes this year that Dirk, Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson, did. Andrew Bynum
had a phenomenal year, to the point that I think he and Pau Gasol should really
put a dent in the Kobe-as-a-strong-MVP-candidate idea. Tyson Chandler is the
Defensive Player of the Year, no question. And although his 70% shooting were all
dunks and uncontested layups that come with playing alongside Carmelo and Amar’e,
he had a phenomenal year. Marc Gasol not only was 6<sup>th</sup> in the NBA in
minute played. Sixth! He was a double-double, starting center on a home court
playoff team. And if that sounds a lot like Roy Hibbert, it’s because he was as
well. Tim Duncan has willingly slid down the Spurs pecking order with Tony
Parker having an MVP year. But he’s had some old-school Timmy nights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was already
the best Center year in the fourteen years I’ve been in the NBA. The best since you had Ewing, Olaujowon,
Shaq, Mourning, David Robinson. (Can you appreciate what it must have been like
for Acie Earl to come into the league then? I only ask as an excuse to get an
Acie Earl mention in here).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But that was
before the unexpected addition of a first-ballot hall-of-famer, a 17-year
veteran and rookie center. In January, Kevin Garnett had to play center in a
TNT Thursday night game against Dwight Howard and the Magic. It looked like it
might be a horrific mismatch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> It was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Garnett
destroyed him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And that set the
tone for one of the remarkable stories of the 2012 season. Kevin Garnett, weeks
before his 36<sup>th</sup> birthday, shifting to center, continuing to dominate
defensively while giving the Boston offense four shooter to play with Rajon
Rondo. It was a game-changer in Boston’s season, maybe in the Eastern
Conference season and while a lot of people are talking about Rondo as an
MVP-candidate, he wasn’t even the MVP of his own team. That’s how good Garnett
was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My centers were
Howard, Bynum and Garnett. Those three and Chandler were inter-changeable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">LeBron and Kevin
Durant were easy choices as the first team forwards. Kevin Love and Luol Deng
second. Easy. The last two spots, not so much. Blake Grififn had a strong
plus-minus year and obviously enough highlights for them to launch an ESPNBlake
channel in Bristol. Danny Granger and Andre Iguodala were my toughest omissions.
Granger the best all-around player on the surprise team in the NBA and Iguodala
was great early, but was as culpable for the Sixers collapse as anyone. Paul
Gasol very quietly had a strong second half. Carmelo missed a lot of time, but
showed MVP flashes late in the year under Mike Woodson. But before their season fell apart, LaMarcus
Aldridge was carrying the Blazers to a top-four spot in the West. He held that
team together longer than they should have been able to stay held together. And
while a lot of people in Boston are not fans of Josh Smith, and with good
reason, he’s played poorly against them it seems, for years. But the Hawks are
a home court playoff team. That wouldn’t
have shocked me at the start of the year, I really liked Atlanta, but that’s because
to me, Al Horford was a ready to have the kind of season that would get him on
this list. For him to miss the year, and the Hawks finish ahead of Boston,
Orlando and New York in the East? Didn’t seem possible. Josh Smith drives
people crazy, I get it, but he’s earned this spot. Led the league in defensive
win-shares, if you’re into that kind of thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Tony Parker,
Chris Paul and Kobe are in the MVP conversation, those are the first three
guards. After that, to me the other three aren’t hard, you have Rondo, Dwayne
Wade and Russell Westbrook, it’s just a matter of the order. Westbrook gets the
4<sup>th</sup> spot over Rondo in a tight one because he played every game on a
better team, Rondo missed 20% of the season and had some bad nights. His 20
best games, were as good as anyone in
the league, but he’ll be an MVP candidate when you get that two or three nights
out of three, not one. You can talk about Steve Nash, but that would be an
honorarium. Derrick Rose missed nearly half the year, he’s out. Mike Conley
deserves to have his name here, for the same reasons as Marc Gasol. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In any case,
here’s how it came out…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1<sup>st</sup>
team 2<sup>nd</sup>
team 3<sup>rd</sup>
team<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">F <b>LeBron Love Aldridge <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">F<b> Durant Deng J
Smith <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">C<b> Howard Bynum Garnett <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">G<b> Paul Kobe Rondo<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">G<b> Parker Westbrook Wade<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">MOST VALUABLE PLAYER<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now you see why
I do all-NBA first. Now that we’re down to 15. Well, 16 because Chandler
deserves top 10 consideration. 1-2 is a no-brainer to me. People will say, write, blog and tweet
anything about LeBron James. A lot of it fair, most of it hilarious. But let’s just step away from that for a
second to say this. LeBron isn’t just the MVP in a runaway, easy choice. You
can put his 2012 season with any MVP of the last decade, maybe back to Jordan.
I’m sure some people will vote for Durant, I actually know someone who’s voting
LeBron third. But as Hubie Brown would
say, come on now…LeBron is the best player in the world…we know this…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The only
questions for me was one, who gets third Tony Parker or Chris Paul? And two, is
ther ea wild-card candidate that would knock Kobe out of 5<sup>th</sup>. The first wasn’t as complicated as I thought.
Chris Paul will probably get third but in the west, best player on the best
team? Parker. And after looking at Kevin Love, Dwight Howard and Luol Deng, I
begrudgingly went with Kobe 5<sup>th</sup>. Have some remorse on not going Deng
5<sup>th</sup>, but I’ll live with it, you can’t go wrong with Kobe onyour
ballot this time of year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My Ballot: <b>James, Durant, Parker, Paul, Bryant</b>…with
Deng at 5 1/2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>ROOKIE OF THE
YEAR..</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Really had a lot
of difficulty with this one. I mean, the winner was as easy as it gets. Kyrie
Irving is special. And he’ll do this award proud, meaning we’ll look back in 5
years and be glad he won, his name will fit in with all the others. Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Shaq, Lebron, Emeka
Okafor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">OK, not <i>all</i> the others. But the other two spots were very difficult
for me. This year, we’ll call it the Ricky Rubio dilemma. Clearly, he was the second best rookie, and
right there with Kyrie in terms of impact on a team and really a franchise, but
playing into Doc Rivers’ notion that his favorite ability in an NBA player, is
avail-ability, he doesn’t make the top three. 41 out of 66 games just isn’t enough for
me. That’s missing nearly 40% of the
season. So that left me with two spots
to fill and no shortage of candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Brandon Knight
is an attractive candidate, but finished last on his team in plus/minus. Kemba
Walekr by the way, has one of the worst +/- ratings in NBA history and finished
dead last in the league in field goal percentage, so no thanks. That Big East Tournament seems about ten
years ago now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kenneth Faried
and Greg Stiemsma were both bigs that made much larger impacts on playoff teams
that we could have thought. But neither
getting to 1,000 minutes hurts their cause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">MarShon Brooks
played lot. But not very well and on a
bad team. Klay Thompson and Isiah Thomas
I had ahead of Brooks, but not on my top tier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So I was left
with Iman Shumpert, Kawhi Leonard and Chadler Parsons for the other two spots. Shumpert was very good defensively, but so
was Leonard on a much better team. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So what did I
do? I left then both off, completely backtracked
and reconsidered on Rubio, giving him the third spot and will likely be the
only one who voted Chandler Parsons 2<sup>nd</sup>. He was a starter on a winning team. Didn’t do
anything extraordinary but did almost everything well. Faried will likely get
the 3<sup>rd</sup> spot, but I went <b>Irving,
Parsons, Rubio</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>SIXTH MAN</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Very similar to
Rookie. Obvious choice, followed by
several, hard-to-distinguish choices for 2 and 3. James Harden will win, and should win, and it
doesn’t take a Metta World Peace elbow to the side of your head to drive that
home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It actually wasn’t
a great year for 6<sup>th</sup> men. Al
Harrington played a nice role for Denver. The Sixers had two strong candidates,
one offensively in Lou Williams, the other defensively in Thaddeus Young. Jason
Terry’s been a stalwart in this category, and people like new blood, but I don’t
think enough happened to displace him. Lamar Odom and Big Baby Davis, two strong
candidates last year, weren’t this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I went with <b>Harden, Williams and Terry</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>DEFENSIVE PLAYER </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Chandler, Howard, Garnett.</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
Near misses for Deng, LeBron, Tony Allen and Elton Brand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">COACH OF THE YEAR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Have always hated
this category. So do coaches by the way. Here’s what I mean. Doc Rivers was
Coach of the Year as a rookie in 2000.
He hasn’t come close to winning it since. Does that mean he was a better
coach then? Funny thing about this year
as how it changed during the year, Stan Van Gundy and Kevin McHale were strong
candidates two-thirds of the way in, they won’t get near it. There are at least
six interchangeable candidates; Greg
Popovich, Tom Thibodeau, Frank Vogel, Rick Adelman, Lionel Hollins, Doc Rivers.
That’s the order I think they’ll finish. I went <b>Vogel, Pop, Thibs,</b> but it was basically flipping a coin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">MOST IMPROVED<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Not a fan of
this category, too esoteric. Avery Bradley won’t get a sniff even though I’ve
never seen an overnight improvement like his this year. Ryan Anderson could win, and probably will. Some
think Jeremy Lin is a no-brainer. But as impactful as the Lin-Sanity stretch was? It was seven weeks long. That’s it, seven weeks. He played less than
half the year. That said, he deserves some resonance in a season that everyone
will remember him for. The unspoken rule is this is for a guy that went from
the periphery to legitmate NBA standout. If it was from standout to star, you’d
be talking guys like Bynum, Conley and Josh Smith. But as it is, I went <b>Anderson, Lin, Nikola Pekovic</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And there you
have it, a difficult year to navigate if you cover the league, a difficult year
to get the awards right, but we did our best to handle both.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">And without anonymity.</span>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-85525448284909651942012-04-18T03:51:00.002-04:002012-04-18T03:51:41.487-04:00Not Your Garden Variety Night<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">April 18,
2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">2:55am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">You know what’s
a bad idea?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Starting a
blog at 3am. But hey, doubling down on Carmelo and giving J.R. Smith and Steve
Novak open looks at threes is also a bad idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So bad, in
fact, it made history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And that’s
really what I’m doing here at 3am, and what you’re doing there, likely early in
the morning, maybe putting off the work that you left sitting in your cubicle
when you went home last night. Because, hey, if it could wait overnight, it can
wait another few minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Besides, it’d
going to be a long, long time before we see another one like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">At 6pm, as
the Celtics were preparing to leave their hotel in midtown Manhattan, an SUV
pulled up in front of our bus. A few seconds later, from the back, emerged one
William Martin Joel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In New York,
and the rest of the word, but <i>really</i>
in New York, everyone calls him Billy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">He once said,
in a song he considered a real next-level breakthrough for him, that it’s
either sadness…or euphoria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And it’s a
shame that “It’s Fantastic!” was just so darn catchy, because the NBA could
have easily adopted that as its slogan instead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It’s been a
remarkable second-half for the Celtics.
Their 21-9 record is one of the NBA’s best, tonight on their home floor
they can clinch their 5<sup>th</sup> straight division title, the defense has
been the league’s standard and they’ve put together a string of outstanding nights
and quality wins that with the playoffs approaching have made people think
about what’s still possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">This…was not
one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Big picture,
the 118-110 loss to the Knicks Tuesday night may end up just a footnote on a
division championship season with the truly memorable moments still ahead in
the playoffs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But these
were some remarkable footnotes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One impress-your-friends-with-a-dazzling-display-of-geek-trivia
fact after another. Here they are…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It
had been over five years since anyone made seven 3’s in a game against the
Celtics. Tuesday, J.R. Smith and Steve
Novak <i>both</i> did it. Anotehr way; 427
games, no one did it. Tuesday, two guys did. The last to do it by the way was a
guy named Kobe Bryant, with at least some of the Garden crowd chanting MVP <i>for</i> him, on January 31, 2007 (game 13 of
the 18-game losing streak). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">No
great surprise, but the 19 threes by New York were the most ever against the
Celtics. There had been before tonight, 1,823 Boston Celtics games since the
three-point shot was adopted in 1979. In none of them, had either the Celtics
or their 1,823 opponents made 19 threes. None of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The
Celtics shot 55% from the floor, their 3<sup>rd</sup> best shooting night of
the 62-game season, and lost by eight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Carmelo
Anthony’s was the 4<sup>th</sup> 35 point game against the Celtics this
year. He has two of them. The season-high
37 on Christmas Day in the opener and 35 on Tuesday. LeBron James and Marcus
Thornton…yes Marcus Thornton, have the other two.</span></div>
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<br />
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">That
happens, when you let a team shoot 57% from the floor, and of course an obscene
19-32 from three. It was just the third time in the 390-game New Big Three Era
that a team and shot that well against the Celtics, and the first in thier 196
road games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif";">OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE – NEW BIG 3 ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">.580
- VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 23, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">574`- <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">VS. DALLAS – JANUARY 18, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-transform: uppercase;">.568 - @ NEW YORK – APRIL 17, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-transform: uppercase;">.560 - </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">@ MIAMI –
DECEMBER 27, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.559 - VS.
PHOENIX – MARCH 26, 2008 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - VS.
TORONTO – NOVEMBER 27, 2009 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - @
PHILADELPHIA – DECEMBER 5, 2007 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - @ DETROIT
– DECEMBER 29, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.551 - @
CLEVELAND – APRIL 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.550 - VS.
MEMPHIS – MARCH 10, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Looking
for streaks getting snapped? We’ve got plenty, take your pick. By getting outshot (and barely as it turned
out), the Celtics streak of 18-straight games outshooting their opponent came
to an end. It was the longest streak in
the NBA this year and the longest for the Celtics since January of 1991. Their starting
center that night? Robert Parish. Chief played 32 minutes that night, he’d play
six more years and finish his career in the NBA’s top-ten all-time in minutes
played. A spot he would own…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">…until
tonight. In the first quarter, Kevin Garnett, who’s staggering statistical
accomplishments are just now hitting home over the last few months, reached
45,705 minutes played in his NBA career, bumping Chief from the top ten. Ahead of Moses. Ahead of Hakeem. Ahead of
Shaq, Jordan, Russell, Ewing and so on down the line. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Another
streak that ended? The Celtics had won 13 straight games when scoring 100 points.
The Celtics are now 13-4 when scoring 100 points this year…but 0-2 at Madison
Square Garden. Speaking of which…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">…it’s
the first time in 12 years the Celtics have failed to win a game at Madison
Square Garden. 1999-2000, the last time the Knicks were defending Eastern
Conference Champions, was the last time the Boston went winless at MSG. Including the playoff series last April,
Boston had been 18-4 in their last 22 games in New York. Go on, read that again, that’s 18 wins..and 4
losses...on the road. And that includes nights
when the Celtics Big Three was like Pierce, Blount and Davis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But
here is the one we’ve been waiting for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">On
February 15, 2006, Paul Pierce scored 50 points in an overtime loss to LeBron
and the Cavs. That year, it seemed like he was a threat to score 40 every
night. He had done it three times already that year. But he wouldn’t do it
again. In fact no Celtic would do it again for a very, very long time. Saturday night in Newark, the Celtics played their
500<sup>th</sup> consecutive game without a 40-point scorer. Sunday in Charlotte, was their 501<sup>st</sup>.
They entered the game Tuesday at Madison Square Garden just seven games shy of
the NBA record. They would not reach it. After 501 games, and 74 months, the
streak ended with Paul Pierce’s 43.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 107.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">(Now please, for the
less-than-one-percent of you who do this every time and for the love of all
things Twitter, please, please stop tweeting us about Paul Pierce’s 41 in Game
7 against the Cavs in ’08 and Ray Allen’s 51 the next year in Chicago, both in the
playoffs. The record, as we’ve said a million times, is a regular season record.
I mean, I love you guys dearly, you know that, but I have to tell you, I was
there, courtside, they happened right in front of me. “<i>Eddie </i>House <i>stole the ball
and it it over at the Garden, Game 7 is history…in every way there is”?</i> “<i>Jesus Shuttlesworth! Is Ray Allen on fire
tonight</i>”? Yeah, that was me. Just saying. I realize I’m getting old and rapidly losing
my mind, but I do remember them.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The streak
was remarkable. For a variety of reasons
but the short version is this. The night
Paul scored 50? The Celtics lost that game. They split the aforementioned playoff
games and they lost tonight. It’s not a coincidence that this streak took off
during the most dominant Celtics era in a quarter-century. It’s an Unbutu stat if there ever was
one. Here was the final tally of
near-misses in the 501-game streak…24 times a Celtic reached 35 points, but
none got to 40, until Paul Pierce Tuesday night in New York.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CELTICS TOP SCORING GAMES – SINCE LAST 40 POINT GAME<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 –
PIERCE @ L.A. LAKERS – FEBRUARY 26, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 -
PIERCE @ NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 18, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">38 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 1, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">38 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – DECEMBER 15, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ PORTLAND – FEBRUARY 23, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ SEATTLE – DECEMBER 27, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ CHICAGO – MARCH 17, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – MARCH 12, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. PHOENIX – DECEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – NOVEMBER 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
R. ALLEN @ TORONTO – JANUARY 11, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MINNESOTA – FEBRUARY 1, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 18, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE @ CHARLOTTE – MARCH 26, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE VS. CHARLOTTE - NOVEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
SZCZERBIAK VS. CHARLOTTE- NOVEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE @ CHARLOTTE- DECEMBER 16, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN VS. PORTLAND – JANUARY 16, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE VS. SAN ANTONIO – FEBRUARY 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN @ INDIANA – DECEMBER 7, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE @ ATLANTA – JANUARY 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
ALLEN @ MIAMI – NOVEMBER 11, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
RONDO VS. DETROIT – FEBRUARY 15, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So there you
have it. In the big picture<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But the
biggest victim of all? The recap of our
Saturday night second half visit from WWE legend and NY Times best-selling
author Mick Foley, which would have occupied this space were it not for all the
history on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Damn you,
Steve Novak. No wonder you wear that fake title belt around your waste. (By the
way, at less than $1 million in salary, I’d suggest that Novak as the NBA’s
leading 3-point shooter, is the <i>true</i>
discount double-check.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One crazy
night in New York. But 24 hours later, the Celtics get another chance to wrap
up the Atlantic Division and take a big step towards home-court advantage in
the first round. In other words, the Celtics go right back to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Feel free to
do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-44922945834438324462012-04-11T03:50:00.002-04:002012-04-11T16:38:48.733-04:00Swoon Over The Miami Game<br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">OK, friends, it's 3:45am so let's see if I can get all this stuff up here before the sun comes up, on yet another Celtics game day.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">A win tonight for Boston, moves them legitimately into the 4th spot in the East. It's gone under-reported in Boston that the 4th seed DOES NOT come with automatic home court advantage. For that, the Celtics will have to match at least two of the three teams in front of them, Atlanta, Orlando and Indiana. But they can accomplish two-thirds of that by beating the Hawks in a few hours. The Celtics trail the fading Magic by just 1/2 game now (and already own the tie-breaker), and the Hawks by one game (and would clinch the tie-breaker with a win on Wednesday).</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">But that's tonight, now some notes from what clearly was the game of the year for the Celtics, a 115-107 stunner of a statement win Tuesday in Miami....</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Miami had been 23-3 at home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* 115 points and 60.6% shooting were both season highs for the Celtics. They hadn’t shot better than 52.2% all
year heading into Sunday. Now 59% and 61% in the last two games against the Sixers and Heat, two of the NBA's top-five defenses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* How impressive was the shooting performance? </span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></div>
<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">TOP CELTIC SHOOTING GAMES – SINCE 2002<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.658 - VS. NEW YORK –
DECEMBER 21, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.658 VS. WASHINGTON –
NOVEMBER 17, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.645 VS. DENVER – NOVEMBER 7, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.641 – VS. DETROIT –
APRIL 3, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.630 - @ PHOENIX –
FEBRUARY 22, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.623 - VS. TORONTO –
NOVEMBER 27, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.622 - VS. DETROIT –
MARCH 15, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.616 - @ TORONTO –
NOVEMBER 23, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.613 - VS. SAN ANTONIO –
JANUARY 5, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.612 - VS. ATLANTA –
NOVEMBER 9, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.<b>606 - @ MIAMI – APRIL 10, 2012<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.603 - @ L.A. LAKERS –
JANUARY 30, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.600 - @ ATLANTA – APRIL
1, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">.600 – VS. ORLANDO –
JANUARY 17, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* The Celtics have scored 107+ points four times in 57 games, but did it in both games at Miami.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Doc Rivers said the one thing the Celtics couldn't do in Miami was turn the ball over. I guess he was wrong. Points off turnovers were 24-5 for Miami. The Heat had 16
more shots and two more free throws, and the Celtics still won by 8 on the
road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* The Celtics now have 10 straight wins when scoring 100 points, 15 straight wins
when not getting out-rebounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* The 107 points allowed was the 5<sup>th</sup> highest total this year,
but 2<sup>nd</sup> win of those five (NY March 4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* The +6 advantage for the Celtics on the glass was their best rebounding night since Memphis Feb.
5, a span of 34 games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Paul Pierce is now 24 points ahead of Tim Duncan for the
final spot on the NBA’s Top 25 all-time scoring list. The Celtics tonight will for the second time, have three of the top 25 scorers in league history. The first being during the one game last April after Ray Allen passed Gary Payton to reach the Top 25, and Shaq returned to the Celtics, only to get re-injured. If you're wondering, as I was, it happened in 1996 with Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in Houston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Paul Pierce also passed Wilt Chamberlin (6,065) fo 14<sup>th</sup>
on the NBA’s all-time free-throws made list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* LeBron James had 36, he's the 3<sup>rd</sup> to score more than 32 on Boston
this year (Carmelo Anthony, Dec. 25 at New York, Marcus Thornton Mar. 15 at Sacramento). James' 13 made free throws matched Melo’s season high. It was also his 19th straight game of 20+ points against Boston, the longest streak against the Celtics since Kareem from 1969-79.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Updated from our friend Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam), The Celtics have shot a higher FG% than their opponent in 14 consecutive games, which is the longest current streak in the NBA. The longest streak of its kind for the Celtics since 1992. (17 games). The NBA high this year was 16 by Miami.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">* Rajon Rondo<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the 4th player in NBA history with at least 10 assists in 18 straight games in a single season, joining John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Kevin Porter. Rondo is the first player with a 18-game streak since Stockton, who had at least 10 assists in 29 straight games from Jan.-March 1992.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* The Celtics now lead the league in field goal defense (.419). In the last ten games (eight wins), Boston has allowed </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">84.2 points per game, and just 38.3% shooting from the floor. </span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">* And while tonight is a tough back-to-back against a potential playoff opponent (Atlanta) that hasn't played since Saturday, the Celtics are 8-9 in back-to-back games this year, but 6-0 at home. </span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">And yeah, I think we're done here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-60456222835864444752012-04-10T18:30:00.004-04:002012-04-10T18:33:47.936-04:00Doc on Ozzie In Miami<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Miami, about to go on the air for the Celtics-Heat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I asked Doc about the Ozzie Guillen firestorm here the last 48 hours, this was his answer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 9pt;"><i>“Sometimes we joke
around and we should be able to do that and sometimes we say the wrong thing. I’m
sure it will happen to me at some point if you do it every day. The odds of it happening go up. Ozzie tends
to do it more than others. But I try and look at the guy’s heart, look there
first before I jump on the anger bandwagon.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-6801199806019141682012-04-09T02:11:00.001-04:002012-04-11T03:21:37.523-04:00Boston College Tips Its Hat To Doc Rivers, We Do The Same For Josh Gibson<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">April 9, 2012
– 12:15am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">30,000 miles
above South Carolina<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Funny baseball
story about Josh Gibson, one of the greatest to ever play, the legendary
slugging catcher and all-time Negro League homerun champion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His home
runs, in the pre-television age, were the stuff of the-fish-was-this-big
hyperbolic yarn. The story goes that one
day in Pittsburgh he hit a ball so far out of the ballpark, no one ever saw it
come down. So the next day, with his
team playing another game hundreds of miles away, let’s say Harrisburg for the
sake of the story, Gibson hits a towering pop fly that takes so long to come
down, everyone loses it for a few seconds.
When it finally reappears and eventually lands in an infielder’s glove,
the umpire turns to Gibson and says “You’re out…yesterday…in Pittsburgh.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Point is, it’s
been kind of a long day. I was in Tampa
at the Frozen Four last night and left there this morning, I’m about to land in
Miami and head to the hotel to sleep.
That wouldn’t seem like much of a thing until I add that in between, there
was a Celtics game in Boston and about 94 minutes of sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So right now,
I feel like that Josh Gibson home run from Pittsburgh, about to crash down
after a long day’s journey that will only end up as something like 250 miles of
net yardage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And the point
is, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. That’s how much I love the Frozen Four.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But let’s
save that for last, since it’s <i>so</i> 27
hours ago and start with the Celtics, who in six weeks have gone from two games
under .500 and four games out of first, to a three game division lead with now
just ten games to play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The stories
in my hockey-related absence this week were two, Ray Allen’s removal from the starting
lineup, and Doc Rivers verbal beat-down of his squad. Both of which came on
Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’ll reserve judgment
on Doc’s tirade, other than to say coaches have the most impact doing it when
they don’t make a habit of it. And I think there was at least a little method
to that particular madness. With the
calendar growing short, 19 days until the playoff opener, and the very clear
understanding that the Celtics can compete with anybody, but no longer with
anything less than meticulous effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Ray Allen-to-the-bench
decision to me, was if not a no-brainer, pretty close. The dilemma to me was
whether to do it to put Avery Bradley in the lineup. When Mickael Pietrus went
down with that gruesome concussion in Philadelphia 16 days ago, I’m convinced <i>he </i>was headed for the starting lineup in
place of Ray, maybe as early as the next game.
I’m not going to bash Ray’s defense. He’s battled hard the last few
years the likes of Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant (hello…6-for-24 in Game 7
anyone? The Celtics win that game, and Ray’s defense that night becomes part of
NBA lore). But it was time for the move, not to mention now you have a hall of
famer coming off the bench, he’ll still get the key crunch-time minutes and
mid-game minutes against other bench players. He will thrive in this role, and
it could end up extending a career that doesn’t appear close to winding down
anyway. Mentioned this on the broadcast a few months ago, but Reggie Miller
retired with 2,560 threes. Ray, sitting at 2,711, heading into the Miami game
Tuesday, has a shot at becoming the NBA’s first Mr. 3,000. Perspective? Yeah, that would be like someone
hitting 900 home runs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(Someone say,
like Josh Gibson**, who might have had they let him play in the majors from the
time he was 19. John Gibson rant coming
on soon…can’t stop it….)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But first,
the fun stuff…the numbers. One of the
added features of the New Big Three Era has been documenting their final, wet
cement steps into the concrete of the all-time records en route to the hall of
fame. It was inevitable, they’d get a
little tangled along the way and now they have.
Tonight, Paul Pierce became one of the NBA’s all-time top 25 scorers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But by the
end of the night, he ended up falling back to 26<sup>th</sup>. Twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He began the
night seven points behind the 25<sup>th</sup> spot. Easy enough. But that 25<sup>th</sup>
spot at the start of the night, was held by Tim Duncan whose Spurs (after a
visit to Boston on Wednesday), were set to tip off at home about an hour after
the Celtics. 11 first-quarter points put
Pierce into the Top 25. But with the Celtics’ captain on the bench in the
second, Duncan scored five early points to leap-frog back in front. A Pierce
three in the 3<sup>rd</sup> quarter flipped them again…and you get the
point. Heading into Tuesday, Duncan sits
at 22,426, Pierce at 22,423.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Celtics
remaining schedule is not easy. Seven of the ten games are against teams in the
playoff race, the other three are the back-to-back-to-back set everyone else
has already gone through. Right now, the
C’s are in the early stages of a ridiculous 12-game-in-17-night-stretch. Eight of
the 12 on the road, and none of the home games consecutive. Meaning, they have
to travel to each game. But a three-game lead with ten to play means 5-5 should
be enough to get Boston the more desirable 4-seed and what they wanted, to
avoid Miami and Chicago in the opening round.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">OK, I need to
do this and then we’re on to the Frozen Four, I promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(** I’ve
gotten myself in trouble before, which I often do, talking about Josh
Gibson. As I bring his name up every
time Major League Baseball, or society, tries to celebrate the anniversary of
Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.
That lonely struggle remains and always will, one of the great
accomplishments of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Not in sport, but in humanity. But when it’s <i>anniversary </i>is celebrated, it always hits me as asinine and utterly
lacking self-awareness. As if to say,
“hooray, it’s only been 50 years since we escaped from a backwards, race-driven
culture of fear and hate.” So when the
anniversary is celebrated over the accomplishment, I like to point out that two
months before Jackie’s debut with the Dodgers, Josh Gibson died. At 35. And he died a
delusional, alcoholic, one of the greatest to ever play driven to it by his
exclusion from the majors. We are proudest of sports when they lead society
rather than follow it. When they set an
example for it, rather than merely reflect and perpetuate its greatest fault lines. But while Jackie will always remind us what
is possible, Josh Gibson reminds me of what happens when fear of change
overcomes not just the better angles of our nature, but our nature itself.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Not sure what
got me thinking about that. Any idea,
Augusta National? Exclusion, archaic
thinking…any idea at all? No?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Look, I love
the Masters, we all do. But the reality is, I don’t get ever get to see much of
it because of the weekend on which it falls. It’s Masters weekend to most
people. To me, it’s Frozen Four weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’m long
since over the idea of winning people over to the things I love. You learn as
you get older that’s really something of a wasted exercise in most cases. Mostly, because in the Twitter age, the
natural evolution of the “how’s my driving” joke. (You know, the one where no
one ever calls that number to say “I just saw your driver back across two lanes
into that loading dock perfectly and I just wanted to say great job”), tearing
down beats lifting up by a pretty healthy margin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I think it’s
cool if you’re into NASCAR, or the Premiere League. Honestly, if I had more
time, I’d like to learn then both, try to understand what makes it great, but I’ve
got at least 20 channels on my cable system that are all-sports, there’s only
so much you can soak in before it’s time to switch to Cartoon Network for
Family Guy at 2:30. I’ve never strayed
too far from the “big six” (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, College Football, College
Hoops). Golf, tennis, boxing have all
their share of my attention at times over the years, and since my outing last
year, most of you know of my life-long passion for the pro wrestling industry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’m not here
to recruit you, I’m not even going to push it on you if you don’t want to try
it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But in my
world, college hockey will always have a very special place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It’s an honor
to be the “Voice of the Frozen Four”. I was told last week , and this surprised
me, that I’ve now called more NCAA Championship Games (12) than anyone else.
And I will keep my promise to go back every single year they’ll have me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’ve gotten a
ton of hockey questions the last few days, and I didn’t want to blow up my
Twitter with some Frozen Four blowout 140 characters at a time, so this seemed like
a better place. The questions ranged from how hard is it to not to do hockey
now all year then jump into a championship weekend? (It’s complicated, and challenging, but
mining is hard, construction is hard, a job you do for money, with no sense of passion
or accomplishment, that’s hard. I’m one of the lucky people in the world and I
know it, the few employable skills I have, are doing what I love, that’s a
blessing). Do you feel weird having to
miss Celtics games every April? (A little, but I got my start in college hockey
and I will never forget that, that’s reason number one why I’ll always go back.
It’s how I pay my respect to the game). Is this year’s BC team the best you’ve
ever seen? (Ah, now that’s a meaty one…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’ve been
around the game for a quarter-century now. (Please hang on while I process how
freaking old that last sentence makes me seem.
Maybe I should spend less time blogging and more scheduling prostate
exams. I don’t know.) And it’s hard to say the 2012 Boston College team is the
best I’ve ever seen. Not when you saw
Maine in 1993, or some of the BU or Michigan teams of the 90’s. The
back-to-back championships of Denver and Minnesota from 2002-2005.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But not only is
Boston College putting up dynasty numbers, the one common thread of this BC run
that no one else can claim in the modern era, is that when the games get
tougher, and the stakes get higher, they get better. Think about that. Since 1998, BC is 79-17…in the playoffs. Say
that again with the Jim Mora voice…in the <i>playoffs!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
once-in-a-lifetime Maine team in ’93 was life-and-death in the Frozen Four.
Needing OT to beat Michigan in the semis and trailing 4-2 in the 3<sup>rd</sup>
period of the title game before the epic Jim Montgomery hat trick (all assisted
by Paul Kariya) to win it. The BU team
in 2009 was a wire-to-wire #1. But we all know, and by we I mean those that
follow our beloved game, that the Terriers trailed 3-1 in the final minute of
regulation before the miracle finish at the OT championship in Washington D.C. There were teams that could have been on the
best-ever list, like Michigan in ’97, BU in ’94, Michigan State in ’91, BC in ’07.
But they either couldn’t win the final game, or didn’t even get there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In fact,
Saturday BC became just the 5<sup>th</sup> top overall seed since the Hrkac
Circus/Ed Belfour North Dakota tram of 1987 to actually win the title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">In this epic run for Boston College, 10 Frozen Fours in 15
years, it’s just the second time they entered the tournament as the top overall
seed. The other, 2005, they were knocked out by North Dakota in the regional
finals. It fits the pattern. If they win twice this weekend, they’ll become
just the 5<sup>th</sup> overll top seed in the last quarter-century to win it
all. (In the previous 11 years since the
tournament expanded from four teams (1977-1987), the top-seed winning was far
more common. It happened five times in those 11 years (’77 Wisconsin, ’80 North
Dakota, ’83 Wisconsin, ’85 RPI and ’87 North Dakota)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">OVERALL
#1 SEEDS WINNING NCAA TITLE </span></u></b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(Since
1988)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></u></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1993 Maine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1995 Boston Univ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2006 Wisconsin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2009 Boston Univ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2012
Boston College<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But the thing
is, BC isn't just winning the tournament, they’re dominating. Two years ago at Ford Field in Detroit, they
faced the nation’s top two teams, Miami and Wisconsin, and went all Steffi Graf
on them, 7-1, 5-love. To further
illustrate, in the ten years since you had to win four games to win the title,
BC’s three title teams in the last five years are three of the four most
dominant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">NCAA
TOURNEY SCORING AGGREGATE </span></u></b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">(Since 16-team format
began 2003)</span></u><b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2010 Boston College +15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2003 Minnesota +15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2012 Boston College +14<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2008 Boston College +12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2005 Denver +10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For 48 hours
before the title, game, we had to listen to people not terribly familiar with
the game, play up the David-versus-Goliath storyline. Yeah, Ferris State was David. David Freese.
David Robinson. David Tua. They were the #1 team in the country for most
of February, and they entered the NCAA’s ranked #6. This was no colossal
underdog and that’s how the game played out. In 2003, Ferris had Chris Kunitz,
now of the NHL MVP-favorite Evgeni Malkin’s line. And they didn’t make the
Frozen Four. This was a special year for Ferris and I’m glad people got to
spend some time in the world of Bob Daniels, one the most enjoyable, congenial,
delightful guys and an increasingly teeth-bearing and ornery hockey coaching
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My favorite stat
of the Frozen Four this year, by the way, was that Union goaltender and Hobey finalist
Troy Grosenick had more shutouts at Fenway this year than Red Sox pitchers did
all of last year. And the way things
have started, his might be the only one for a while. (The Celtics started 0-3 by the way, and now
53 games later have a three-game lead in their division, so you know, let’s
chill for a bit.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But as the
plane starts its descent into the Sunshine State I left 17 hours ago, seems
like an interesting time to think about full circle, and different parts of my
strange life overlapping. And no, I don’t mean the once-in-who-knows-how-long
chance to bring two of my buddies from opposite ends of the world together for
dinner in Tampa the other night. Barry
Melrose to my right, Jim Ross to my left. Clearly the beginning of a beautiful friendship
between two icons in their worlds. That’s
an entirely different blog. I’m talking
about this one;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As the
championship game approached, BC coach Jerry York talked about a speech his
team had gotten a few weeks earlier from another coach. About how while not everyone can be a star, everyone <i>can </i>be a star in their role. He talked about how it resonated with his
players as they made their run towards last night’s championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The author of
that speech?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Doc Rivers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We often don’t
think about how the different elements of sports, or our own lives can
intertwine. But sometimes, you can be sleep-deprived, jet-lagged and not know
if you’re looking at a power play or a flagrant foul, it’s still impossible to
miss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As we arrived
at Hanscom Air Force base for our flight to Miami tonight, Doc Rivers was handed
a gift. A few hours earlier, the national champion Boston College Eagles’
charter flight had touched down at the same terminal. The coaches and players he inspired had saved
him one of the championship hats they were given on the ice moments after the
final horn. Knowing the Celtics were
about to pass through the same halls a few hours later, since they couldn’t
offer him a tip of the cap. They just
left him his own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And now that
hat, like Josh Gibson’s legendary home run, is about to touch down just a few
hundred miles from where it originated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One final
reminder that the journey, is always more interesting than the destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(Although
since this destination includes a king size bed, in this case I’m making a
personal exception.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-85702956658649119202012-03-31T03:30:00.004-04:002012-04-09T16:59:43.992-04:00Healing Minnesota: The Two Kevins<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">March 31, 2012 –
1:30am <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">30,000 miles
over Western Ontario<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let me start by
saying, I really don’t have time for this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I wish I did,
but I don’t. See, a regular NBA season can get a little nutty, with the games
and the travel and the laundry. But this
one of course has been more like Supermarket Sweep. Just racing through the
aisles of the country cramming as many games as we can into a shopping cart
until the four-month timer hits zero.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now for me,
throw in the Frozen Four next weekend in Tampa, my fantasy baseball draft
(purposely scheduled I’m convinced now by my league in attempt to leave me
unprepared and try to do something they haven’t been able to do with skill, and
that’s end my UConn Women/Jimmy Johnson/Undertaker-at-Wrestlemania-like
dynasty) and, of course, Wrestlemania itself on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So yeah, a
little over-scheduled right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And surprisingly,
my five-month-old son and his sleep schedule seem to have no regard for this
frenetic pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In any case, too
many things happened Friday night at Target Center to not get at least a few words
down on paper, or up on the screen as it were, and we fly a thousand miles east
in the middle of the night for, hey what do you know, another big game Sunday
afternoon against the Heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Especially as
despite the fun and instant gratification of our favorite 140-character
obsession with the blue bird has become, Twitter is amazing and getting the
word out, but there often just aren’t enough words to say it right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So first, here’s
this. Kevin Love is special.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’m not going
down this road of the Love-Garnett thing that seemed to be the topic of the 36-hour stay in the Twin Cities. We
covered it at length in the best pre-game guest segment we’ve had this year,
with my former partner, and Max’s former teammate Jim Petersen. (Here's the link: </span><a href="http://audio.weei.com/a/53789535/grande-max-with-t-wolves-broadcaster-jim-petersen.htm">http://audio.weei.com/a/53789535/grande-max-with-t-wolves-broadcaster-jim-petersen.htm</a>) <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So let's just say this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kevin Love is
one of the top 15 players in the NBA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kevin Garnett is
one of the top 15 players in the <i>history</i> of the NBA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That’s all we
need to cover for now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And Friday night,
if you have Kevin Love on your fantasy team you got some numbers, but that was
a Round One-UFC tap-out win for Minnesota’s original Kevin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was also his
best game against his former team since the trade, and not the first time we’ve
used a sentence like that about Garnett in 2012, all part of one of the most
remarkable seasons in his hall-of-fame career with the position change and his
36<sup>th</sup> birthday next month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now, let’s put
it out there because this needs to be fixed. Not tonight, but over the next few
months and years because there is a latent, and mutual hostility that exists
between Garnett and the franchise he carried for a dozen years. Not the fans,
not the city, but with some key members of the Wolves’ front office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And while we’ll
save the reasons for now (check out that audio link if you want to hear some of
them), the point is that in a few years, there simply must be a Kevin Garnett
Night in that building. I don’t mean a
game, with a five-minute halftime ceremony. I mean a night, a sold-put,
stand-alone night that’s a celebration of a city’s team, and the 19-year-old
kid who lit it up and evolved into the player and the man that carried it on
his shoulders for twelve years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A man who, by
the way, didn’t want to leave. A man,
who when it was apparent the franchise couldn’t carry his weight and needed to
move on, didn’t rub anyone's face in it, didn’t get Jim Gray to show up at the
YMCA to announce it, and didn’t dance with his new teammates after he made it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It’s not hard to
find people KG made enemies of in Minnesota, or anywhere really, and a portion
of the criticism and the vitriol can be easily justified. But it’s time now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It’s time to
move on from it, on every level. Garnett got his ring, the Wolves have their
mojo back. Next year, with a healthy Rubio, Love, Derrick Williams and a full
year for Rick Adelman, the Wolves are back in the NBA, they’re back from the
relegation pool of teams that don’t get on ABC or TNT. And they’re probably back in the
playoffs. It was a cold five years, but
they’re over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For two days we’ve
been listening to this Kevin Love-Kevin Garnett comparison debate, and forget
for a minute what happened Friday night, here’s the thing. When you position comparisons that way, you’re
setting it up to tear one or the other down.
It’s unavoidable. Trust me, Skip Bayless makes a very good living doing
it brilliantly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The tale of
Minnesota’s two Kevin’s is a win-win. You can celebrate the Garnett Era without
casting a shadow on Kevin Love. You can celebrate the present and future that
the Wolves finally have, without tarnishing the legacy of their greatest
player.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One day Kevin
Love may change the following sentence, but he hasn’t yet. There is no franchise
in professional sports where the gap between the team’s best, and second-best
player is bigger than it is with the Timberwolves. Not after Sidney Crosby won a Cup in
Pittsburgh, not as long as the Colts had Unitas, the Oilers had Messier and the
Bulls had Pippen. Go on, try it in
baseball, can’t be done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let’s bury the
bad feelings, and bury the comparisons the way Kevin Garnett buried his fourth
quarter shots on Friday night. Maybe the best way to enjoy Kevin Love’s future,
is by making peace with Kevin Garnett’s past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">OK, if you’ll
forgive me, the unforgiving to-do list beckons. I’m going to try multi-tasking
by listening to Simmons’ fantasy baseball pod with Matthew Berry while watching
tape on the Frozen Four teams at the same time.
Could be a brilliant use of limited time, or result in me trying to
draft Edwin Encarnacion sometime during the second period of the national
semi-final on Thursday night, one of the two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But first, some
kind of wacky numbers from Friday…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The Celtics are now 14-7 in 21 Target Center
games, easily best record in any building where they’ve played 15 or more
games. American Airlines Arena is Miami is next at 12-11 (not including 1-4 in
the playoffs)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">It was the first double-digit road win of the
year, the first since one year ago today (March 31, 2011) in San Antonio and
the biggest road win since a 22-point win at Golden State last February, which was
(draw your own conclusions) Kendrick Perkins’ last game as a Celtic.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b>*</b> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The Celtics were outscored Friday by 13 (21-8)
from the free throw line, and still won by 21 on the road. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Here’s the big one, let’s go boldface<b>. The Celtics were out-rebounded by 151 in
17 March games (8.9/game) <i><u>and still
went 12-5</u></i>.</b> I mean, really?
That’s pretty hard to do.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Celtics h<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a;">ave now won 13 straight
win when not getting out-rebounded (16-2 on the year)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Kevin
Love, who averages 14 a game, had only 11 rebounds against the NBA’s worst
rebounding team, just the 32<sup>nd</sup>
highest total against the Celtics this year in 51 games. What were the odds of that? Some of the
luminaries who’ve had more rebounds against Boston than Kevin Love this
year? Nikola Vucevic, Amir Johnson,
Trevor Booker and Jason Thompson, not to mention Samuel Dalembert’s 17.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> T</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">he
Celtics are now 9-1 without Ray Allen, 6-4 without Rondo. But 0-3 without Paul
Pierce and 0-3 without Kevin Garnett.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2a2a2a; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The Celtics lost the first three games this
year in which they scored 100 points (including the only meeting with Miami on
December 27), they’ve now won 11 in a arrow.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And speaking of
Miami…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">…since many of
you have asked, my completely uninformed, off the top of my head picks for
Wrestlemania in Sunday…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A valiant effort
by HHH falls short, and the Undertaker’s streak continues. The last time Shawn
Michaels refereed a match this big, by the way, he was brilliant and nearly
stole the show anyway (SummerSlam 1997 in Taker’s WWF Title loss to Bret Hart
(the same night the business’ history almost changed forever on the late Owen
Hart’s missed tombstone piledriver that nearly ended the Stone Cold Era before
it began).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Chris Jericho
wins the WWE Title from CM Punk in a phenomenal match. We get a couple of months
of tremendous rematches before the Best in the World gets the belt back late in
the spring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Then John Cena
and Rock, after everyone is picking Punk-Jericho to steal the show, tear the
house down in the match of the show, if not the match of the year. Both cement their
legacy as Cena wins clean in the middle, prompting Rock to show up on Raw
Monday night and shake his hand…before delivering a rock bottom with the tag
line; “See you next year…bitch.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He won’t have to
write it on his wrist, that’s for sure. * <o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-11199438894073574232012-03-17T05:31:00.002-04:002012-03-17T18:18:50.343-04:00Statistical Immortality For Kevin Garnett, Statistical Ineptitude for His Team<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2:32am - 30,000 feet above Grand Junction, CO</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We may</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> as well
begin here.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At least before the Broncos sign Peyton Manning today and take any attention the Celtics-Nuggets game tonight was about to get and drive it deep into the C-block of Sportscenter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The numbers from the
Sacramento game Friday night are fresh in the air.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Or more to the point, not-so-fresh.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So before we get there, let’s remember how
numbers can sometime paint a spectacular picture of a body of work that while
celebrated, remains one of the more under-appreciated in the 21</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
Century of over-appreciating almost-everything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Tonight in
Denver, Kevin Garnett will pass. Often,
as he has for 17 years. But this time when he does, and someone, maybe a future
fellow-Hall of Famer, makes a shot, it will mean something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Something pretty
amazing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kevin Garnett’s
next assist, as we covered in Thursday night’s blog, will be the 5,000<sup>th</sup>
of his NBA career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It will give him
20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Two guys have a
key to that club. One is Karl
Malone. The other is Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kevin Garnett also
has 1,500 steals. Kareem does not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kevin Garnett
also has 1,500 blocks. Malone does not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And then, there
was one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We have a great
deal of difficulty it seems shuffling current players into the existing deck of
the greatest to ever play. We tend to
hyperbolize for the sake of the moment, or be too reverent of the players we
grew up watching. It’s a difficult
target to hit. But sometimes, like
tonight, the numbers do it for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Debate where he
fits as long as you want. But when the
hall of fame breaks off into the VIP room, with the very best of the best? Kevin Garnett gets a bracelet. End of story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(He’s also leading
the 2012 Celtics in plus-minus, leading the <i>league</i>
in that category over the last ten games, all the while playing center for the
first time in his career, two months before his 36<sup>th</sup> birthday.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But tonight, a
mile above sea level, Kevin Garnett breathes air no one else ever has.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">*******<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And then there
was the Sacramento game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There have been
many truly spectacular nights for the Rivers’ family. And undoubtedly many, many more lie ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Friday, was not
one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Just minutes
after Austin Rivers’ Duke Blue Devils became the 5<sup>th</sup> 2-seed in NCAA
Tournament history, and the second of the day, to get upset by a 15-seed, his
father’s Celtics put forth an effort that might not have won them a game in the
NIT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So let’s just
get the bite-the-cold-sore, self-inflicted pain out of the way and up on the
screen so we can all just move on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ready? It’s like bad turbulence on the plane. You just have to go through it. Here we go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the first 365
games of the New Big Three Era, the Celtics only had one 25-point loss, the
Easter Sunday massacre in Cleveland in 2009.
One...in 365 games. It’s now
happened twice in the last seven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">20-POINT
LOSSES – NEW BIG 3 ERA</span></u><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(REGULAR SEASON)</span></span></em><em><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></em></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">32 - @ PHILADELPHIA – MARCH 7, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">31 -
@ CLEVELAND – APRIL 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">25 - @ SACRAMENTO – MARCH 16, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">23 -
@ MIAMI – APRIL 10, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">21 -
VS. SAN ANTONIO – MARCH 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20 -
VS. CLEVELAND – FEBRUARY 25, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20 -
VS. MEMPHIS – MARCH 10, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Next, we have
the 27-point deficit. In the first four
years of the New Big Three Era, the Celtics had fallen behind by 26+ points
four times. That’s it. That would be an average, hang on let me
check the math…yeah, that would be an average of once a year. Friday night was the 5<sup>th</sup> time it’s
happened in 43 games this year. And the
4<sup>th</sup> time in the last 13 games.
From once a year, to once a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<em><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-style: normal;">25-POINT DEFICITS – NEW BIG 3 ERA</span></u></em><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;">(REGULAR
SEASON)</span></em><em><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></em></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">37 - @ PHILADELPHIA – MARCH 7, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">36 -
@ CLEVELAND – APRIL 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">29 -
VS. MEMPHIS – MARCH 10, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">29 -
@ HOUSTON – MARCH 18, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">28 -
VS. WASHINGTON – APRIL 9, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">27 - @ ORLANDO – JANUARY 26, 2012 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">27 - VS. OKLAHOMA – FEBRUARY 22, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">27 - @ SACRAMENTO – MARCH 16, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">26 @ DALLAS – FEBRUARY 20, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">25 -
@ INDIANA – NOVEMBER 1, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">25 -
VS. SAN ANTONIO – MARCH 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At the start of
the night, I posed the following question “how many NBA fans could name the
Kings’ leading scorer off the top of their heads?” That number is a lot bigger today. <i><u>Marcus
Thornton became the 12th man to score 36 against the New Big Three Celtics</u></i>.
(Wade, LeBron (5 times), Kobe, Monta (2), Caron Butler, D-Rose (2), A.
Stoudemire, John Salmons, David West, Dirk and Durant). <i><u>But</u></i> Thornton
was<u style="font-style: italic;"> the first to get at least 35 points and 5 steals</u>. It hadn’t been done <i><u>against Boston since Kobe</u></i> Bryant went for 38 and 5 steals <i><u>in February of 2007.<o:p></o:p></u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let’s not forget
<i><u>Jason Thompson</u></i>, who entered
the night averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds a game. His 21-point, <i><u>15-rebound night was the 16<sup>th</sup> time this year a Celtics
opponent has grabbed at least 14 rebounds</u></i>. <i><u>A Celtic has done it</u></i> exactly <u><i>once</i></u>. And that Celtic, was the point guard. Rajon Rondo’s
17-rebound, epic triple-double against the Knicks two weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And just for
fun, only once in the first 41 games had the Celtics given up 51% or better
from the floor. Golden State and
Sacramento did it in consecutive games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But let’s point
out the following…in Thursday night’s entry here I made note of something I
thought was interesting, and even adding in the horrific numbers from Friday
night, it still looks like this….<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Team A: 28-27 (+0.6 differential)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Team B: 23-20 (+0.6 differential)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Team A is the
2010 Celtics from Christmas Day on. The team that had a double-digit lead in
Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Team B? The 2012 Celtics from Christmas Day on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Just saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(The Team A/Team
B thing is of course copyright Matthew Berry of ESPN, who I’m still not speaking to after I
let myself buy in to the Michael Vick fantasy strategy last fall even though my
head said not to…life lesson.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Anyway, the
point is that the Celtics enter Saturday just 1½ games behind Atlanta for the 6<sup>th</sup>
spot and Philadelphia for the division lead.
With the Pacers bad loss in New York, they’re only 2½ in front of the
Celtics. That means a 15-8 type close to
the season for the Celtics? And after
all these ugly numbers, they’d not only avoid Miami and Chicago in round one,
they could easily end up with home court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And if there’s
ever been a day to believe in lower-seeded teams, this would be it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-21995620723090295352012-03-15T22:00:00.004-04:002012-03-17T05:26:19.318-04:00Deja Vu All Over Again<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The</span><u style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Celtics
are on their way to Sacramento. To the
rest of their season, and the rest of this five-year New Big Three Era.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Twitter has
taken over so much of the world, so to no one’s surpsie, it ruled today’s NBA
Trade Deadline, for better and worse. At
our flagship station in Boston, I was asked to give them a “heads up” on any
moves the Celtics might make.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But here's the thing, with Twitter there is no more “heads up”, there is only “never mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ray Allen was
traded about 3,600 times on Twitter this morning, none as it turns out, it real
life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Never mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In any case,
just a quick reminder what happened the last time we were told the
Celtics were about to trade Ray Allen, two years ago at the 2010 deadline. In the final year of his contract, trade
rumors centered on Ray the entire 09-10 season right up to deadline day. His numbers that year before the deadline?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> GAMES FG% 3FG% FT% 20+ pts<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before 2010 Deadline 50 .447 .333 .894 9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You know the
rest, or maybe you don’t. But either way, Ray went on an historic tear through
the rest of the season, the run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and all the way
through the following year, passing Reggie Miller to become the NBA’s three-point shooting champion, and going a
full calendar year, at age 35, averaging the shooter’s holy trinity of 50% from
the field, 40% from the three and 90% from the line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">While Kevin
Martin’s shot 43%, and played fewer minutes, for Houston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let’s look at
those numbers again now, before the deadline, and in the 30 games that followed
his not being traded….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></u><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">GAMES FG% 3FG% FT% 20+ pts</span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before 2010 Deadline 50 .447 .333 .894 9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After 2010 Deadline 30 .538 .412 .961 10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now for good
measure, let’s tack on his full 2010-2011 season, including the playoffs…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></u><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">GAMES FG% 3FG% FT% 20+ pts</span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before 2010 Deadline 50 .447 .333 .894 9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After 2010 Deadline 30 .538 .412 .961 10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2010-2011 89 .494 .461 .889 25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So, take from it
what you will. But it’s easy, in the age
of video games and fantasy drafts, to lose the human element of pro
sports. But it is undeniable. Ray himself was adamant in 2010 that the
trade rumors didn’t bother him. You can
decide for yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But for those
who thought the Celtics should have pulled the trigger on a Ray Allen deal
today, or Pierce or Garnett or even Rondo, remember the Celtics are playing
better now than they were two years ago at this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2009-2010 Celtics from Christmas on: 28-27 (+0.6 differential)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2001-2012 Celtics from Christmas on: 23-19 (+1.3 differential)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And we know how
that turned out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Some miscellaneous
notes on the Celtics ride from San Francisco to Sacramento…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** Friday night
at the building-formerly-known-as-Arco begins a most unusual stretch for the
Celtics. Waiting to hear from Elias on
just how unique, but the Celtics will now play their next four games…in four
different time zones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** Milestone
month continues for Kevin Garnett. Monday
night he passed Moses Malone to move into 11<sup>th</sup> on the NBA’s all-time
minutes played list. If he averages 24/minutes a game the rest of the year, he’ll
pass Robert Parish into the top 10. But
the big one could come as early as Friday, he’s four assists from 5,000 for his
NBA career. It will give him 20,000
points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 blocks and 1,500 steals, joining a class…of no one. It's never been done. KG clinched the Hall of Fame somewhere around
2005. If there’s a VIP room within the
Hall of Fame? With velvet ropes and
fancy appetizers? Yeah, he’s in there,
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** Speaking of
milestones, congratulations to Tim Duncan on moving into the top 25 on the NBA’s
all-time scoring list. But don’t get too
comfortable. It won’t be a long
stay. Paul Pierce is closing fast. Duncan won the race to Clyde Drexler and the
top 25, but he won’t win the marathon.
The Celtics captain will likely pass Drexler before the Celtics return
home next weekend. 103 points behind
Duncan, he’ll need to average 4.3 points per game more than Duncan to move into
the top 25 by the end of the year, and move directly behind, wait for it…Ray
Allen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">NBA ALL-TIME SCORING
LEADERS – AS OF MARCH 15, 2012</span></u></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-left: 6.75pt; margin-right: 6.75pt; text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 30.95pt;" width="41"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 127.3pt;" width="170"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">ELGIN BAYLOR<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 45.05pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">23149<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 30.95pt;" width="41"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">24.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 127.3pt;" width="170"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allenra02.html"><b><span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">Ray Allen</span></b></a><span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 45.05pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">22826<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 30.95pt;" width="41"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #7f7f7f; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">25.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 127.3pt;" width="170"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/duncati01.html"><b><span style="color: #7f7f7f; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">Tim
Duncan</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #7f7f7f; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 45.05pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #7f7f7f; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">22228<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 30.95pt;" width="41"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">26.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 127.3pt;" width="170"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">CLYDE DREXLER<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 45.05pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">22195<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 30.95pt;" width="41"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">27.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 127.3pt;" width="170"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/piercpa01.html"><b><span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">Paul Pierce</span></b></a><span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 45.05pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">22125<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** The win in
Oakland was the Celtics’ 5</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> straight when scoring 100 points.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That’s not all that unusual, until you consider
the C’s started this very strange year 0-3 when scoring 100.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** Yes, the
rebounding numbers. They are what they
are. The Celtics, down to one true
center on the roster, a center whose primary professional minutes before this
year came in Turkey and Korea, are last in the league in rebounding. The win in Oakland last night moved them to
15-2 when outrebounding opponents, and ended an incredible run of games. In the previous five, the Celtics had been
outrebounded by 80. 80. 16 a game.
And still won three of the five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** And making
his debut in the bullet-point section, is one of the most improved players in
the NBA. Avery Bradley’s meteoric rise into the rotation began with his lock
down of Jameer Nelson on January 23<sup>rd</sup>. And the numbers show it. In the 15 games Avery Bradley has played
fewer than 10 minutes, the Celtics are 5-10. When he does play 10+ minutes, the
Celtics are 18-9. Making him, the anti-Gerald Green. (At least the 2007 version.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">** And continuing
a tradition started nearly a decade ago, the Celtics traveling party stopped on
the road from San Francisco to Sacramento at In N Out Burger. An unintentional yet still dead-on homage to
the last 24 hours in the life of Dwight Howard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-14401254633184675192012-02-16T19:15:00.000-05:002012-02-16T19:15:53.142-05:00<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Rules for tonight’s Twitter fun.<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So we did this
last year. It was the first time it had
ever been attempted for a live professional sports broadcast and, as I wrote in
the hours before it began, “I think we’re about to find out why.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But as chaotic-as-a-Nicki-Minaj-stage-performance
as it was, we made history and had some fun in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Tonight, the
sequel. And here’s how it works. I’ll call the game by myself courtside in
Chicago, and where Cedric Maxwell would normally come in, I’ll look down at the
Twitter feed and incorporate your comments in real time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><u>Send your in-game tweets to
@SeanGrandePBP with the hashtag #CelticsRadio.</u></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The guys will be
retweeting some of the best tweets during the night and for the author of the
best one? Two tickets to see that guy,
the NBA’s own version of Beiber-fever, Jeremy Lin and the Knicks in Boston for
the big Sunday afternoon ABC game on March 4<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If you don’t
hear your tweet on the air, it’s still very much eligible for the prize. By
using #CelticsRadio, we’ll make sure every one of them gets read and while I’ll
have some input, our esteemed studio producer @JonAlbanese will make the final
call. I was married for nine years, believe
me I know how to avoid unwinnable situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thanks for
playing and enjoy, it will be a fascinating exercise in hopeless and
unconquerable multi-tasking if nothing else.<br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-46873591903163022712012-02-16T03:48:00.000-05:002012-02-16T03:48:27.170-05:00Pistons Baffle Celtics and Statisticians Alike<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">February 16,
2012 – 12:36am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Right now we’re
30,000 feet above Syracuse, NY. Seems like a fitting place to lament a game
lost by missing free throws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The Celtics home
court, double-digit loss to Detroit (just the 12<sup>th</sup> in the 183 home
games of the New Big Three Era), ends an ugly 7 days that has the green four
games out in the division, and three games out of home-court in the
playoffs. Moreover, the 15-13 record
looks even shakier when it comes with a 19-9 home/road schedule disparity as we
approach mid-season. The opportunity for
make-goods is plentiful of course on the road, but let’s start with this little
gem…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">…the Celtics now
play their next five games on the road against, wait for it, five teams that
have already beaten them this year…in Boston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A common theme
during the stretch in which the Celtics won 10 of 13, was defense. How good was it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CELTICS DEFENSE JAN. 23-FEB. 11
(9-3)<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Points
Allowed 82.2*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Defensive
FG% .391**<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Defensive
3FG% .256***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">*
Improved from 5th to 1st in the NBA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">**
Improved from 12th to 1st in the NBA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">***
Improved from 7th to 1st in the NBA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Enter the
Pistons. 8-22, on the second night of a back-to-back, shooting under 43% from
the floor. Their 87.4 points per game 28<sup>th</sup> in the NBA, only New
Orleans (5-23) and Charlotte (3-25) have scored fewer points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Two and half
hours later, the Pistons came within a garbage time bucket of ending the
Celtics 25-game streak of holding teams under 100 points (the longest such
streak in the NBA in seven years). How
rare an offensive night was it? Rodney Stuckey
made 11 free throws and Ben Gordon made 4 three-pointers. Only Carmelo Anthony
(13, 4 on Opening Day) had done that against the Celtics this year. Entering the week, no one had made more than
ten shots against Boston this year. Kobe
Bryant and Pau Gasol did it last Thursday, Greg Monroe, exploiting the first
game missed by Kevin Garnett this year, had 11 on Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And if that
wasn’t strange enough. Detroit entered the game last in the league in the thoroughly
random but still significant free-throw defense. Teams
had shot a league best 78% against Detroit from the line this year. The
Celtics, a 76% free throwing team, went 19-32, missing 13 free throws in a
10-point loss. That…is the law of
averages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But Wednesday
night’s game was notable for the scoring outburst of Rajon Rondo. After tying his career high with 32 against
the Bulls on a triple-double Sunday, the Celtics point guard and all-star snub
went 15-27 from the floor on his way to his first career 35-point game. Sitting on 27 though early in the 3<sup>rd</sup>,
it looked like he was headed for a 40-point night, which would have been
statistically fascinating on several levels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The first, that
it’s been six years and 466 regular season games since a Celtic scored 40.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The second, that
it wasn’t Ray Allen or Paul Pierce making the charge at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The third, the
last 40-point game by a Celtic, was Paul Pierce’s 50 point game. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And the fourth,
that tonight was the 6<sup>th</sup> anniversary of that game, February 15,
2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">(Now before we
go any further, I’ve been tracking this stat for several years now, and
whenever I tweet it, a small but vocal number of people start jumping up and
down about Pierce’s 41 in Game 7 against the Cavs in’08, and Allen’s
unforgettable 51 in Game 6 against the Bulls a year later. So again, it’s a regular season streak. The NBA record by the way, is 508 straight
held by the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies from 2000 to 2006.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It’s a
fascinating streak. It was the 23<sup>rd</sup>
time since the Pierce 50 that a Celtic has gotten to 35 points (the 13<sup>th</sup>
time in the Era), but no one’s been able to get the final five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CELTICS TOP SCORING GAMES – NEW BIG 3 ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ SEATTLE – DECEMBER 27, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ CHICAGO – MARCH 17, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – NOVEMBER 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
R. ALLEN @ TORONTO – JANUARY 11, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MINNESOTA – FEBRUARY 1, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 18, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN VS. PORTLAND – JANUARY 16, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE VS. SAN ANTONIO – FEBRUARY 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN @ INDIANA – DECEMBER 7, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE @ ATLANTA – JANUARY 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
ALLEN @ MIAMI – NOVEMBER 11, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 – RONDO VS. DETROIT – FEBRUARY 15,
2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CELTICS TOP SCORING GAMES – SINCE LAST 40 POINT GAME<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 –
PIERCE @ L.A. LAKERS – FEBRUARY 26, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 -
PIERCE @ NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 18, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">39 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">38 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 1, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">38 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – DECEMBER 15, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ PORTLAND – FEBRUARY 23, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ SEATTLE – DECEMBER 27, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">37 –
PIERCE @ CHICAGO – MARCH 17, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – MARCH 12, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. PHOENIX – DECEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – NOVEMBER 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
R. ALLEN @ TORONTO – JANUARY 11, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MINNESOTA – FEBRUARY 1, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">36 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 18, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE VS. CHARLOTTE - NOVEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
SZCZERBIAK VS. CHARLOTTE- NOVEMBER 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE @ CHARLOTTE- DECEMBER 16, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN VS. PORTLAND – JANUARY 16, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE VS. SAN ANTONIO – FEBRUARY 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
R. ALLEN @ INDIANA – DECEMBER 7, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
PIERCE @ ATLANTA – JANUARY 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 –
ALLEN @ MIAMI – NOVEMBER 11, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35 – RONDO VS. DETROIT – FEBRUARY 15,
2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The parable of the streak, of course, is that it hasn't been for a lack of star power. The Celtics have won over 60% of their games in the six years since and nearly 70% of the games they've played in the New Big Three Era.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And the night Paul Pierce had his 50? The Celtics lost that game, as they did tonight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Rondo didn’t end
the 40-point streak, but did end the not-nearly-as-glamorous six year run of no
Celtics making 15 shots in a game, last done by Pierce a month after his 40
point game against Carmelo Anthony and Denver in March of 2006. That game, by the way, was the last gasp for
the ’06 Celtics. It got them to 29-36 and the fringe of the playoff race. From then on they went 6-13 to end their four-year
run of playoff berths (It was also the
night of the Sopranos season premiere on HBO, that featured your two favorite
announcers in the background of a pizzeria mob hit. #UselessTrivia)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">For the record,
no Celtic has made more than Rondo’s 15 shots in a regulation game since
Antoine Walker (volume shooter) made 17 in a Sunday afternoon game in Toronto
nine years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOST FIELD GOALS IN A GAME – SINCE 2001<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">17 –
WALKER @ TORONTO – MARCH 2, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">17 –
PIERCE VS. CLEVELAND – FEBRUARY 15, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">16 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – JANUARY 24, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15 –
PIERCE @ WASHINGTON – MARCH 11, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15 –
WALKER VS NEW YORK – MARCH 5, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15 –
PIERCE VS. DENVER – MARCH 12, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15 – RONDO VS. DETROIT – FEBRUARY 15,
2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
WALKER @ NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11, 2001*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE @ NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 2, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE VS. ATLANTA – NOVEMBER 22, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE VS. PHOENIX – JANUARY 28, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
DAVIS @ ATLANTA – APRIL 1, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
DAVIS @ DETROIT – NOVEMBER 15, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
DAVIS @ SACRAMENTO – DECEMBER 30, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14
- PIERCE VS. PHOENIX – FEBRUARY 1, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE @ PORTLAND – FEBRUARY 23, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
JEFFERSON @ ORLANDO – APRIL 15, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 18, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 align="center" style="tab-stops: 6.0in; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #009900; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOST FIELD GOALS IN A GAME – NEW BIG THREE ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15 – RONDO VS. DETROIT – FEBRUARY 15,
2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">14 –
PIERCE VS. MIAMI – MARCH 18, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
GARNETT VS. DETROIT – MARCH 5, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
R. ALLEN @ INDIANA – DECEMBER 7, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
PIERCE VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
PIERCE VS. MINNESOTA – FEBRUARY 1, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
RONDO @ PHOENIX – FEBRUARY 22, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
PIERCE @ CHICAGO – MARCH 17, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
GARNETT VS. PHOENIX – NOVEMBER 6, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
ALLEN @ MIAMI – NOVEMBER 11, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13 –
ALLEN VS. SAN ANTONIO – JANUARY 5, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And so the
Celtics embark on the daunting road portion of their schedule. 14 of the next 19 away from Boston. And we reach the end of another statistical
manifesto, and the first NBA-related piece written in the last week with
absolutely no mention of Jeremy Lin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Wait, does that
count?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Damn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Please forgive my late-night Lin-discretion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-21897789881404303402012-02-07T16:04:00.000-05:002012-02-07T22:50:16.177-05:00Age Is Just A Number (but this one is pretty impressive)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">On the night Paul Pierce's third-quarter three moved him past Larry Bird on the Celtics, and the NBA's all-time scoring list, another number kept jumping off the page at me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><i><u>Kevin Garnett</u></i>, whose playing time, knees and health have been more closely guarded in Boston the last five years thank Beyonce's room in the maternity ward (go ahead and Google it, crazy story), <i><u>has played more minutes than any other Celtic through the first third of the season.</u></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">When
people ask me about the wear and tear on Kevin Garnett, about the miles on those
tires (listen, strange questions get asked in the line at Whole Foods, just trying to pick up some soy milk and Quinoa, dude), I never really cite his MVP 2004 season in which he played a staggering
4,015 minutes. (more than the 3,465
combined career total of three of Charlotte’s starters tonight). I instead look at the 6,000 minutes he played
his final two years in Minnesota, for teams that didn’t come anywhere near the
post-season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">One of the many reasons that later this year, Garnett will move into the top 10 in NBA history in minutes played.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">Take a second, think about that. Top 10.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">Now, that
problem was quickly corrected by Doc Rivers, who rode him to an MVP caliber
season and a 66-16 record in 2008 by playing him a career low in minutes for any of his
previous 12 years, including the 50-game lockout season of 1999.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">But
injuries to Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo have KG remarkably atop the Celtics’
minutes played list, three months from his 36<sup>th</sup> birthday. It got me wondering (copyright, Carrie
Bradshaw), <u><i>he has to be the oldest player in the league leading his team,
right</i></u>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">He
is, and it’s not that close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">Jason
Terry is second (and only leads because of the injury to Dirk Nowitzki), born
16 months after KG. Included is the
entire list of players leading their teams in minutes played. The median age? 27, over nine years younger
than Garnett. If Dirk passes Terry before Rondo or Pierce pass KG, Garnett will be more than two years older than the second man on the list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">John
Wall, the youngest team leader, was born days after Garnett started high school
in South Carolina.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;">Note
a pretty consistent correlation between the age of the top-minutes-played
player, and the team’s W-L record. The
older, the better. Making the Sixers
start, quarterbacked by easily the most overlooked young point in the NBA, Jrue
Holiday, that much more impressive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kevin Garnett
5/19/76<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Jason Terry
9/15/77<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kobe Bryant
8/23/78<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Joe Johnson
6/29/81<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Carlos
Boozer 11/20/81<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tony Parker 5/17/82<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Anderson Varejao
9/28/82<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tyson
Chandler 10/2/82<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Jarrett Jack
10/28/83<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Marcin
Gortat 2/17/84<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Chris Bosh
3/24/84<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Deron
Williams 6/26/84<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Marc Gasol 1/29/85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Paul Millsap
2/10/85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">LaMarcus
Aldridge 7/19/85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Monta Ellis
10/26/85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Dwight
Howard 12/8/85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kyle Lowry
3/25/86<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Darren
Collison 8/23/87<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Gerald Henderson
12/9/87<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Danilo
Gallinari 8/8/88<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kevin Love
9/7/88<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kevin Durant
9/29/88<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Blake
Griffin3/16/89<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">DeMar
DeRozan 8/7/89<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tyreke Evans
9/19/89<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Brandon Jennings
9/23/89<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Greg Monroe
6/4/90<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">Jrue Holiday
6/12/90<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plantagenet Cherokee', serif; font-size: 8pt;">John Wall
9/6/90<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-68406806677537442422012-02-01T02:19:00.000-05:002012-02-01T13:01:29.327-05:00Rebounding Paradigms and Statistical Paradoxes<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As the Celtics’
22-point lead whittled away Tuesday night in Cleveland, you were probably
wondering two things. One, when did Sideshow
Bob become Moses Malone? And two, when’s
the last time the Celtics lost a lead like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let’s start with
Anderson Varejao, who had one of the best individual games against Boston in
the last decade. Approaching that lethal moment on the career curve when youth
and athleticism crosses with experience, Varejao is having the best year of his
career. And the league’s leader in
offensive rebounding had an ideal matchup on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The result, <i><u>Varejao posted just
the 2<sup>nd</sup> 20/20 game against the New Big Three Celtics</u></i>. (Dwight Howard had the other in March of 2009
in a game notable in that it turned out to be Kevin Garnett’s final appearance of the title defense season.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;"> </span></u></b><b><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">CELTICS
OPPONENT REBOUNDS – NEW BIG 3 ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">24 –
LOVE VS. MINNESOTA – JANUARY 3, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21 –
HOWARD @ ORLANDO –MARCH 25, 2009**<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 –
HOWARD @ ORLANDO – DECEMBER 25, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><span style="color: #660000;">20 – VAREJAO @ CLEVELAND – JANUARY 31,
2012**</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19 –
NOWITZKI @ DALLAS – MARCH 20, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19 –
JEFFERSON @ UTAH – FEBRUARY 28, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">**
20/20 Game<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20 REBOUND GAMES VS. BOSTON – SINCE 2001<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">28 –
WALLACE @ DETROIT – MARCH 24, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">24 –
LOVE VS. MINNESOTA – JANUARY 3, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23 –
NOWITZKI @ DALLAS – FEBRUARY 21, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21 –
CAMBY @ NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11, 2001<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21 –
WALLACE @ DETROIT – MARCH 15, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21 –
HOWARD @ ORLANDO –MARCH 25, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 –
OLOWOKANDI @ L.A. CLIPPERS – DECEMBER 29, 2001<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 -
O’NEAL @ LA LAKERS – MARCH 21, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 –
Ke THOMAS VS. PHILADELPHIA – APRIL 10, 2003<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 –
MARION @ PHOENIX – FEBRUARY 27, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20 –
HOWARD @ ORLANDO – DECEMBER 25, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><span style="color: #660000;">20 – VAREJAO @ CLEVELAND – JANUARY 31,
2012</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But lest you
think the Celtics can’t make rebounding history. They may, tonight. Kevin Garnett is nine defensive rebounds shy
of 10,000 for his career. He’ll become
just the third man in league history to reach that milestone. Karl Malone, Robert Parish, Kevin
Garnett. That’s it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>MOST
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS – NBA HISTORY</u></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">1.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 1.7in;" width="163"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #0f243e; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">KARL MALONE<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 33.85pt;" width="45"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">11406<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 1.7in;" width="163"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #0f243e; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">ROBERT PARISH<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 33.85pt;" width="45"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">10117<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 1.7in;" width="163"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allenra02.html"><b><span style="color: #009900; text-transform: uppercase;">KEVIN GARNETT </span></b></a><span style="color: #009900; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 33.85pt;" width="45"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #009900; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">9991<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 1.7in;" width="163"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #0f243e; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">HAKEEM OLAJUWON<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #AAAAAA 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #AAAAAA .75pt; padding: .75pt 12.0pt .75pt .75pt; width: 33.85pt;" width="45"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">9714<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And because it’s
2:15am, and you’ve read this far, you could call these “nuggets” or “bullet”
points, but they don’t pertain to either of those franchises.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">* </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><u>Celtics have now
won 121 straight games when leading by 19+. </u></i> If Tuesday night’s scare seemed
oddly familiar, it’s because the last time it happened, it was in the same
building. On November 11, 2006, the
Lebron James’ 25 second-half points led Cavs back from 25 down to beat the
Celtics 94-93. The Celtics leading scorer that night? Kendrick Perkins. Or,
after Monday night, the artist now known around the NBA as “Kia Optima.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> * </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
<u style="font-style: italic;">Celtics have</u> now<u style="font-style: italic;"> won nine straight when scoring at least 89 points</u>. In fact, the Celtics are 9-0 when scoring
between 89-100 points. The two times
they’ve broken 100? Both losses, at New York and Miami to open the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> * </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">How
bizarre was the historic 27-point comeback in Orlando last week? <i><u>In the other
nine wins, the Celtics largest comeback?
Five points</u></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> * </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><u><i>Ramon
Sessions</i></u> had the first double-digit assist game against the Celtics this year. And the first since Chris Paul had 15 last
March 19<sup>th</sup> in New Orleans. It <i><u>ended a 33-game regular season streak
of no one getting 10 assists against the Celtics</u></i>, and oddly enough, he ended that
streak off the bench.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And I leave you
with the strangest statistical note of the day….The Celtics and the Cavaliers
were the last two teams in the NBA this year without a win against a .500
team. The Celtics got three last week,
home and home with Orlando anad against the Pacers. So the Cavs entered the night as the only
team without one. But by losing…wait for
it…they got it. The loss pushed the
Celtics up to .500 at 10-10, meaning Sunday win for the Cavs in Boston, is now
considered a win against a .500 team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Deriving joy from
bizarre statistical paradoxes like that is likely why I get so little sleep,
and almost definitely why I’m no longer
married.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-9161839835831528972012-01-27T04:24:00.001-05:002012-04-10T03:21:34.418-04:0024 Hours Of Orlando<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So how was your
day? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thursday morning, alarm went off at
4:15. By 5:30, I was on a JetBlue flight
to Orlando. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That means many
things, among them being that while you’re never get the sleep back, you can
replace all the things I had to surrender to TSA that can’t go on commercial
flights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But before I
crashed into about 47 minutes of the luxury that is commercial-airplane sleep,
I was watching Federer-Nadal from the Australian Open. And even with the men’s
game in something of a malaise down period, you watch those two because you
may very well see something you’re going to remember for a very long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now since the
Celtics had already done that Monday in the first half of the home-and-home
with the Magic (scroll down to Tuesday morning’s entry), it seemed there was as
much chance of it happening again, as there was for Federer after he got run
over in the third set tie-breaker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Monday without
Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, they held the Magic to 56 points, their worst offensive
performance in franchise history. Little did we know, they hadn't yet begun to offend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thursday, make it
a road game, and take starting center Jermaine O’Neal out of the mix. So for perspective,
it left the Celtics with two centers to match up with Dwight Howard. One, Greg
Steimsma, who averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds a game last year…in Turkey. And the other, Chris Wilcox, who’d made five
shots all year and hadn’t played in two weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Elias says the
last 282 times an NBA team built a 27-point lead, they held on to win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So what do you
do for an encore after one of the statistically best defensive performances in
league history? When you’re down three
starters and another key reserve goes down in the first half? When the two
point guards you have left have played less than 500 NBA minutes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You stop a
282-game win streak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was the
Celtics biggest comeback since 1996. Of
all the extraordinary accomplishments of the New Big Three Era, big comebacks
haven’t been one of them. Why? Because the Celtics the last five years have
rarely gone down by 20 points. In fact,
the Celtics entered this year having fallen behind by 20 just 15 times in 4
years….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">15+
POINT DEFICITS 35
7 11 15 8 7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20+
POINT DEFICITS 17 2 4 6 3 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The result, it
was just the second time since 2007, the C’s had come from 20 down to win. The other being the first leg of the Texas
Triangle sweep in 2008. In fact in their first seven wins of the year, their biggest comeback was four.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">BIGGEST CELTICS COMEBACKS – (2002-2012)<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">27 - @ ORLANDO – JANUARY 26, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">23 -
@ PHILADELPHIA – JANUARY 20, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">22 -
@ SAN ANTONIO – MARCH 17, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20 -
VS. L.A. CLIPPERS – FEBRUARY 9, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">20 -
@ NEW JERSEY – DECEMBER 9, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">19 -
@ CLEVELAND – DECEMBER 21, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">18 -
VS. MEMPHIS – NOVEMBER 9, 2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">17 -
@ PHOENIX – DECEMBER 26, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">17 -
@ PORTLAND – FEBRUARY 24, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 -
@ CLEVELAND – DECEMBER 18, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 -
@ ATLANTA – JANUARY 10, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 -
@ MILWAUKEE – NOVEMBER 25, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 -
VS. SEATTLE – MARCH 9, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 - VS.
TORONTO – NOVEMBER 10, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">16 -
VS. ATLANTA – NOVEMBER 12, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Of note, the previous high on that list, was also on TNT, MLK night in Philadelphia nine years ago. Marv Albert, who called Thursday's game on TNT, had another one on that list, calling the win in New Jersey for YES in 2006. That was the Paul Pierce buzzer-beater that started a 5-game win streak for the Celtics. And then that season, yeah, went another way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The two Orlando
games follow a compelling win in Washington Sunday. If the Celtics find a way with a 3am arrival this
morning to pull off the back-to-back win against the Pacers Friday night, it
may not be the best week of the New Big Three Era, but certainly the most
shocking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now are the
Celtics suddenly contenders for the championship again? Can they continue to
win games with 3 of their 5 starters on the sidelines? Have we seen the last of Roger Federer as the dominant force on the men's side? Is Tuesdays With Morrie so absurdly popular that a woman was reading it voraciously on my flight this morning as if it came out yesterday? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The last answer is yes, the others you can decide for
yourself. But it’s pretty amusing every day to read tweets from people, and
columns from writers about the Celtics needing to “blow it up”. When the team on the other end of the floor
is the one imploding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Time check…4:22am. My 24 hours of<s> Daytona</s> Orlando…are
over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-19038842231345800432012-01-24T01:54:00.000-05:002012-01-24T01:54:28.252-05:00A Bad Weekend For Field Goals<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">January 24, 2012 - 1:45am</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Just a quick
entry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">They say you
live long enough, you’ll see everything.
You call enough NBA games, I suppose the same holds true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Celtics entered Monday night's game with Orlando having lost 6-of-8, a middle-of-the-pack NBA rank of 12 in field-goal defense with a third of their roster, including two starters out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">How stacked was
the deck for Orlando Monday night?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Celtics were
without their floor leader Rajon Rondo, responsible for nearly forty percent of
the Celtics offense. Without Ray Allen, second in the NBA as 56% from behind
the three-point line. And without Mickael Pietrus and Keyon Dooling, the only
other candidates to stretch the defense, welcomed the 11-4 Orlando Magic to
Boston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The absent
Celtics had scored 40% of Boston’s points through the first 15 games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The starting
backcourt (Avery Bradley, Sasha Pavlovic) that had averaged 17 minutes a game
<i>combined</i> through the first month, while the return of Hedo Turkoglu put the rested
Magic at full strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Magic were rested,
having blown out the Lakers Friday night, while the shorthanded Celtics were on
the second night of a back-to-back, a circumstance in which they’d lost 10 of their
last 13.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now, you know
how the NBA works, games that look like mismatches on paper, often end up
coming down to the final possession. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This one, did
not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For two and half
hours later, we had this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<h2 align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">OPPONENT
LOW SCORING – CELTICS HISTORY*<o:p></o:p></span></u></h2>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">56 - </span><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">VS. MILWAUKEE – MARCH 13,
2011</span><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">56 - </span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">VS. ORLANDO – JANUARY 23, 2012</span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">57 –
VS. MILWAUKEE – FEBRUARY 27, 1955<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">58 -
VS. DENVER – JANUARY 24, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">59 -
VS. NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">59 -
VS. CHARLOTTE – OCTOBER 28, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">62 –
VS. MIAMI – APRIL 2, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">62 -
VS. MIAMI – MARCH 30, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">62 - </span><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">@ CHARLOTTE – DECEMBER 11.
2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">63 - @
SACRAMENTO – DECEMBER 28, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 2.0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> * Shot Clock Era<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Really? Yes, really.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">With 56 points,
24.6% from the floor and 16 made field goals, it was <i><u>the worst offensive night in the 23-year, 1,788-game history of the
Orlando Magic</u></i>. They hit their previous low 57
against the human-rain delay that was the 1997 Cavs coached by Mike Fratello.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was the <i><u>sixth time in the shot-clock era the
Celtics have held a team under 60 points</u></i>, four of those six have come
in the New Big 3 Era. One, was in 1955.
The other in 2003 against a Denver team that featured Vincent Yarbrough, Junior
Harrington and Donell Harvey…in the starting lineup. And off the bench John Crotty, Mark Blount
and the legendary Nikoloz Tskitishvili.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Keyon Dooling
missed the game Monday night, but he’s already seen this show. He was on the Bucks team against whom the Celtics
set the franchise record ten months ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A record the Celtics were
about to set on November 30, 2007, in a memorable
early-in-the-championship season TNT game with the Knicks. But another future-Celtic, Nate Robinson hit a buzzer-beating three
from just across half-court, that kept the Knicks out of the record book in a 104-59
Boston win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was also the
fourth time in the New Big Three Era the Celtics held an opponent under 30%
from the floor…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif;">OPPONENT LOW FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE – SINCE 2001<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.246 - VS. ORLANDO – JANUARY 23, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.270
- VS. PHILADELPHIA – MARCH 28, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.279
- @ SACRAMENTO – DECEMBER 28, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.288
- VS. MIAMI – MARCH 30, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.298
- VS. CHICAGO – OCTOBER 31, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">.299
- @ CHICAGO – NOVEMBER 6, 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was an
historic night for the Celtics at the Garden, as and Billy Cundiff will tell
you, a bad weekend for field goals in New England.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-68417640440225486012012-01-20T00:23:00.000-05:002012-02-18T12:32:47.329-05:00Mets Fan Bids Kid Adieu<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>February 17, 2012 - Chicago</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>I was finishing my prep for tonight's Celtics game in Chicago when the news came. A few miles from where Gary Carter hit his 300th home run in the summer of 1988, an quest which had become such a Tim Wakefield-aian struggle at the end, David Letterman did a whole bit on it later than night. The outpouring of obituary affection was overwhelming and at some level comforting. Almost as much as the knowledge that his pain was finally over. Such a bittersweet moment to think that more than once in 1985, Gary Carter and Whitney Houston were the two best parts of my teenage day.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>I wrote this last month, when things seemed most grave. It was an ode, and a paying of due respect. But really, it was therapy for me and maybe at some level, that ridiculous, youth-inspired backwards sports-thought that you could jinx something from happening, merely by saying it out loud.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>It didn't work.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>But the Empire State Building, which I could see out of my window every day growing up, bright with Mets blue and orange on Friday night was the best tribute of all.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>He had a way of brightening up everything.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">January 20, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This should have been a fun Thursday night. The Lakers and Heat are on. We had Penguins-Rangers, no Rob Lowe tweets and the unintentional comedy of both Fausto Carmona, and pretty much every Republican candidate pretending to be someone else.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But I can’t shake the story that’s gotten lost in the always-frenetic news cycle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Gary Carter is dying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I can’t believe I have to type that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Nor do I know why life-is-unfair moments continue to catch me off guard. But this one truly has.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">*******</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We’ve spent the last couple of months, celebrating, canonizing, debating, appreciating, bashing, and then appreciating all the bashing of a player who plays the game with an indomitable joy and a faith he feels compelled to share. But as fascinating and must-see TV as the year of the Tebow has been. I enjoyed it more the first time I saw it three decades ago. It was called Gary Carter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He was the National League’s all-star catcher, after Johnny Bench and before Mike Piazza. He was the centerpiece of the two of the decade’s great teams. The early 80’s Expos and the mid/late 80’s Mets.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But he was different. It’s one thing for a rookie to get the nickname “Kid”. It’s another when a burly catcher in mid 30’s not only keeps it, but earns it every day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Our collective national snark wasn’t as honed in the 80’s. I mean, my God, just look at the hair. How cynical could we possibly have been? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Bobby Bonilla famously told the New York media when he arrived twenty years ago that they couldn’t knock the smile off his face. That had a Kim Kardashian marriage kind of chance. And lasted about as long.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Carter seemed immune to it. He seemed to have a Kenneth-the-30 Rock-page, aw-shucks immunity to it. He chased foul balls he couldn’t possible reach, he dove into the stands and every Shea Stadium curtain call looked like Kevin Garnett winning a championship. And he never shied away from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">thanking the Lord on the post-game show, no matter how cringe-worthy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">With our conflict-seeking trained eyes now, we can probably see Keith Hernandez and the more too cool for school element of the dugout rolling their eyes at Carter. The </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">same way Red Sox teammates would snipe off the record about Curt Schilling years later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I remember a DL stint for Carter late in the ’86 season in which Tim McCarver and Steve Zabriskie had him up in the TV booth. He was so bottled up from not being able to play, I don’t think he stopped talking for like six full innings. It was Walton-esque. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We all work with someone like that. They’re just a little too enthusiastic, a little too rah-rah. Not one of the cool kids, and kind of an easy target. But you miss them when they’re gone, because they made you work harder, or play harder, or just enjoy more being part of a team.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Gary Carter was that guy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He used to scream at his teammates, “You’re the man!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When really, he was.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the old days, when there was only one ESPN, one Game of the Week, and you did your fantasy league stats every Tuesday when USA Today printed the stats, baseball’s winter meetings were in mid-December, the week of my birthday. So every year, as a Met fan, I’d get someone new for my birthday. At least that’s how I looked at with the limitless myopia of youth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">By 1984, Frank Cashen the Mets GM had been stockpiling assets for years, meticulously building the farm system to make the one big deal. That December, he had enough to go shopping at the big boy store. And the Expos, foreshadowing and pre-dating the departure of Andre Dawson, Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero, were ready to deal their franchise catcher.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We loved Hubie Brooks, loved him, but I would have driven him to the airport myself. Were I old enough to have a car…or a license. Keith Hernandez had changed the culture in the Mets clubhouse, but Carter legitimized it. The result, was baseball nirvana. Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell, as motley and wild a crew as has ever been assembled, now had a heart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I get it, everyone hated the Mets. The way they hated the Yankees of the late 70’s, the Celtics of the late 2000’s, the Broad Street Bully Flyers, the cast of Jersey Shore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jeff Pearlman famously wrote the story of the mid 80’s Mets, it was called “The Bad Guys Won.” There should have been asterisk for the catcher.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He was a leader from the first day. The walk-off home run in his first game as a Met against Neil Allen and the Cardinals. I was there that day, finding out first-hand what happens when both an all-star catcher anchors your lineup, and you sit at Shea Stadium for three hours in mid20’s April wind-chill. The results of both are devastating. He had, by the way, ruined Opening Day the year before, hitting a grand slam in a 10-0 Expos rout. Now he was my birthday present. He was on my side.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The stats, the hall of fame career? They’re all on Baseball Reference. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The 1-2-3 double plays, the purely genuine fist-pumps, riding those bad wheels into second on a double. I watched every minute of the Mets’ six hour game in Atlanta on July 4, 1985. I watched it. Gary Carter caught it…all 19 innings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When Mookie Wilson nearly lost his eye in spring training in 1987, when a rundown throw shattered his sunglasses, Carter was the first one to rush to his side. “Aw geez, did it break the glass? It did.” He was devastated because his teammate, had gotten hurt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These are the things I remember.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before we had Wikipedia, and YouTube and every conceivable sports moment cataloged at our fingertips, we relied on our own childhood memories, and by not having to go to either to write these words, I realized today how much Gary Carter is a part of mine. And how much I appreciate it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We seem to have great skill and grace when it comes to the posthumous homage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But I’m writing this tonight on the hopes he’ll see it. On the hopes that rather than write an obituary, he could know how much one fan loved to watch him play, and will always remember not just 1986, and a World Series win one teenager who grew up watching Mets teams lose 95 games a year never even dared to dream, but the everyday love of the game that came through the television decades before HD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But mostly on the hopes he can beat out one more base hit it doesn't seem like he can.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">From me as a kid, to the actual Kid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thanks.</span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-17442295678398845432012-01-15T16:26:00.000-05:002012-01-15T16:26:21.039-05:0010,000 Maniacs: These are the Twitter days<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">January 15, 2012 - 12:30am</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So as it turns out, we hit this big Twitter milestone at 30,00o feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Which is kind of fitting as I’ve spent every imaginable holiday, birthday, anniversary, award show, election night and Family Guy marathon day six miles in the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the only thing I remember being on the ground for was the Millennium twelve years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And that’s only because they thought all the planes were going to crash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Y2K…those were the days.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But this is about 10K, not Y2K, as in the landmark 10,000 follower threshold they tell me is some kind Ron Burgandy big deal in Twitter world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Here’s the thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s really not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And before I get to why it’s not, and what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> kind of a big deal, can I just say what no one else seems to?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That “follower” is kind of creepy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A kind of creepy, ill-fitting term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What am I, the King of Siam or something?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Who came up with this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about subscriber?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about member?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what about what it really is…customer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I mean, if people that read our tweets are followers, that would make those who tweet leaders. And based on what I’ve seen around this neighborhood?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, not so much. If Twitter follower-ship was the measure of leadership, President Obama’s cabinet meetings would have would have Katie Perry and Shakira arguing about middle class tax cuts and Ashton Kutcher taking digital pictures of it with his Nikon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Listen, I was pulled reluctantly into this world, as most men of certain age are when the impetuousness of youth is replaced with a lethal combination of skepticism, fear of the unknown and the stubborn refusal to accept that the way you’ve always done things, is not going to be the way you can do them in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Evolve, or die.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Why my reticence?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I figured 140 characters for me was like watching Kwame Brown try to squeeze into those short-shorts for the Lakers a few years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An uncomfortably tight squeeze, and not very pretty to look at.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I mean, we’re 350 words in here and I haven’t even approached the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haven’t even sidled up near it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’m a broadcaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyone who uses one word when they could just as easily use ten just isn’t trying hard enough.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But let’s arrive at the point; I really am humbled by there being 10,000 of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a variety of reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The strangest one being this, I know some of you, maybe a majority of you, have never actually seen or heard me do what it is, I really do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">See, I’m a play-by-play guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s what I’ve always done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t sing or dance, I can’t heal, I can’t litigate, I can’t pilot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I call games.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But in that role as the voice of the Boston Celtics, and various in sundry free-lance assignments, no one has ever promoted me as being on Twitter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve never seen my name at the bottom of any screen with the little blue bird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My handle, is that what we’ve decided to call it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My handle doesn’t appear on the Celtics website, on our TV partner Comcast Sportsnet, now a proud part of the NBC Sports family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m rarely on TV these days, I don’t host Sportscenter, or a daily talk show. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I have become, quite accidentally, a Louis Winthorp-ian sociological experiment in this purely democratic medium of Twitter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">If you’re there, it’s strictly on word-of-mouth, or word-of-tweet I guess, as it were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might be into the Celtics, the NBA, WWE, college hockey or just like a good LeBron, Tebow or Brett Favre joke once in a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re probably a fan of Bill Simmons, or Jim Ross, Michele Beadle, Mick Foley, Robert Flores, Joey Styles, Adrian Wojnarowski, Dave Lagana or any of my high-profile friends who type softly but carry a big twitter stick.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But you found me, the same way you’ve found all the other cool stuff out here that you enjoy and you make the decision to say, in a way that makes us deeply proud; “This person does not irritate me to a level that I can’t even stand to have their random thoughts delivered to my handheld personal device for free.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It is quite the ego stroke.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But like a Clint Eastwood-grumpy-old-man character that eventually has to admit that the new thing he was afraid of is actually a welcome change and some kind of full-circle, third-act object lesson, I have to say, this is pretty cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">All the other elements of being on the air, or being a “star” (and I’m talking about Gaga and Beiber here, not me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, probably Beadle, too), have always been about creating an imaginary divide between celebrity and us “regular people”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the unintentionally subversive byproduct of Twitter, is that we’re all the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We look the same, we have the same character limit and the single best part…<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Access.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’m on the Celtics plane right now, if I wanted to ask Paul Pierce a question about, well, anything, I can get up, walk five feet and ask him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, you can too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And chances are he’ll see it, and maybe even answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Look, I’m not nor am I likely to ever be, if I may crib from my former work colleague Antoine Walker, a high-volume-tweeter. But I will do my best to answer ever tweet as quickly as I can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the least I can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Because what I’m saying, in something more than 140 characters, is that as far as I’m concerned, I…follow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I can inform, amuse, answer a question or tweet a picture of Max eating a snow cone during the second quarter, I’ll do my best. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And continue to strive to be the Egg McMuffin of Twitter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-36367530276721650972011-12-28T03:45:00.000-05:002011-12-28T04:07:30.160-05:00TWO DOWN AND...WELL...TWO DOWN<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Some notes from 30,000 feet on a less than ideal Celtics start…<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Not brain surgery through two games but to paraphrase a former President who grew up in this part of the country…<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It’s the defense, stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">After four years as the NBA’s best defensive team, the Celtics have started out as anything but in 2011-2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the obvious asterisks aside, short training camp, new bench, tough road schedule and of course, the subtraction of their leading scorer and captain Paul Pierce aside, some pretty jarring numbers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">For example…</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Last year, the Celtics were 26-0 when scoring 104 points. This year, 0-2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Last year, the Celtics were 36-4 when shooting 50%. This year, 0-2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Last year, the Celtics trailed by 17 just five times in 82 games. This year, 2-2..<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Here’s the big one….<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">At one point late in the 3<sup>rd</sup> quarter, the Heat were shooting 70% from the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Celtics zone cooled them off, but it was still one of the worst defensive efforts of the 4+ year era.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif";">OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE – NEW BIG 3 ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">.580 - VS. TORONTO – JANUARY 23, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">574`- <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">VS. DALLAS – JANUARY 18, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-transform: uppercase;">.560 - </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">@ MIAMI – DECEMBER 27, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.559 - VS. PHOENIX – MARCH 26, 2008 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - VS. TORONTO – NOVEMBER 27, 2009 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - @ PHILADELPHIA – DECEMBER 5, 2007 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.557 - @ DETROIT – DECEMBER 29, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.551 - @ CLEVELAND – APRIL 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.550 - VS. MEMPHIS – MARCH 10, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">It was the 16<sup>th</sup> time C’s have gone down by 20 in the New Big Three era…five of the 16 to a LeBron James team.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">20-POINT DEFICITS – NEW BIG 3 ERA</span></u></b></em><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></b></em><em><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 7pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">(REGULAR SEASON)</span></em></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">36 - @ CLEVELAND – APRIL 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">29 - VS. MEMPHIS – MARCH 10, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">29 - @ HOUSTON – MARCH 18, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">28 - VS. WASHINGTON – APRIL 9, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">25 - @ INDIANA – NOVEMBER 1, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">25 - VS. SAN ANTONIO – MARCH 28, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">23 - <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">@ PHOENIX – DECEMBER 30, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">23 - VS. L.A. CLIPPERS – MARCH 9, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">23 - @ MIAMI – APRIL 10, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">22 - @ SAN ANTONIO – MARCH 17, 2008 (W)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">22 - VS. ORLANDO – MARCH 8, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">20 - @ ORLANDO – NOVEMBER 18, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">20 - @ CLEVELAND – JANUARY 9, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;">20 - </span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">@ DENVER – FEBRUARY 21, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">20 - VS. CLEVELAND – FEBRUARY 25, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">20 - @ MIAMI – DECEMBER 27, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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</div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Celtics only made 12 3’s once last year, against Sacramento in the blizzard game on Jan, 12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They haven’t made more than 12 since November of 2009, part of the hot start to the ’09-’10 season, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the 20<sup>th</sup> time in the New Big Three Era the Celtics had made at least 12 3’s, they had been 17-2 in the previous 19.</span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif";">3pt FIELD GOALS – NEW BIG 3 ERA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">16 - VS. DALLAS – JANUARY 25, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">15 - @ MEMPHIS – MARCH 8, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">15 - @ MIAMI – JANUARY 21, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">14 - VS. PHILADELPHIA – JANUARY 18, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">14 - @ PORTLAND – FEBRUARY 24, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">14 - @ CHICAGO – APRIL 1, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">14 - @ DENVER – FEBRUARY 23, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">14 - @ PHILADELPHIA – NOVEMBER 3, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">13 - @ WASHINGTON – APRIL 9, 2008 (L)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">13 - @ INDIANA – DECEMBER 7, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - @ TORONTO – NOVEMBER 4, 2007*<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. CHICAGO – DECEMBER 21, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">vs. Chicago – december 19. 2008</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. WASHINGTON – JANUARY 2, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. NEW JERSEY – JANUARY 14, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. CHICAGO – OCTOBER 30, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - @ ORLANDO – JANUARY 28, 2010 (L)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - VS. SACRAMENTO – JANUARY 12, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">12 - @ MIAMI – DECEMBER 27, 2011 (L)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But let’s also remember that as dominant as the Celtics have been, the Christmas road trip has not been their friend since winning the championship in 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Celtics go into New Orleans on Wednesday 3-10 in their last 13 games on the Christmas trip.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2008 </span></b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">- 1-3 including the Christmas loss to the Lakers and the controversial “6 men on the court” loss in Portland.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2009</span></b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> - 1-3, the start of the uninspired 27-27 finish to the regular season.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2010</span></b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> - 1-2 plus the injury to Kevin Garnett<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2011</span></b><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Medium","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> - 0-2 start</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
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</div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So yes, by the way, this is what I do at 2:23am, five miles above the gulf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Hug your kids close this holiday week, and hope for a better life for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The plane is beginning its descent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">No doubt more than a few right now think the Celtics are as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We’ll talk to you at 7:30 eastern time tonight from New Orleans on NBA.com and WEEI.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-80512026128992522532011-12-17T23:32:00.000-05:002011-12-17T23:32:33.629-05:00NBA OPENING WEEK: IT'S THE STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE...NOT THE LENGTH.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">There’s been a ton of debate, and consternation about the 66-game schedule upon which the NBA is about to embark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And virtually all of it, is about the volume of games being “crammed” into a short amount of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while it’s factual, two things to remember; the number of games only went “up” by ten percent <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(3.7/week as opposed to 3.4) and it will be the same for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What’s getting no mention, is the change in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">strength </i>of schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the fact that the unbalanced schedule will give certain teams an advantage and others, not so much.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Here’s what I mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>57 of the 66 games will be the same for everyone (assuming that the East and West are relatively balanced, discuss amongst yourselves).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone will play 3 games against teams from their own conference and 1 against teams from the other conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The leaves nine games.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Can nine make that much of a difference from one team to the next?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">You decide.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It was unavoidable that the marquee teams would play more marquee games. But how does that play out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CBS Sports’ computer said the Celtics and Heat would have the toughest schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a look at their extra nine games shows us why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how does that compare to another, under-the-radar playoff contender?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s take a look.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">For example, my dark horse in the East is Indiana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small-market team, young, unknown head coach, so in theory, not a great television draw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do the Pacers’ nine extra games look like compared to the Celtics and Heat?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do your own tale-of-the-tape.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">2011-2002</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> NINE EXTRA GAME OPPONENTS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">BOSTON</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="color: red;">MIAMI</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="color: #17365d; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">INDIANA</span><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">LA LAKERS<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>LA LAKERS<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>GOLDEN STATE<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">DALLAS<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>DALLAS<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>MINNESOTA<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">OKLAHOMA CITY<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>OKLAHOMA CITY<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>NEW ORLEANS<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">MIAMI<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>BOSTON<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>CLEVELAND<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">CHICAGO<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>CHICAGO<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>NEW JERSEY<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">WASHINGTON<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>ORLANDO<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>ORLANDO<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">TORONTO<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>PHILADELPHIA<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>PHILADELPHIA<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">INDIANA<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>ATLANTA<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>BOSTON<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">NEW YORK<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>INDIANA<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>MIAMI<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It’s almost as dramatic for the Lakers in the West, whose extra games include Boston, Miami, New York and Dallas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">They say this season will be like no other in NBA history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Looking at things like this…makes me think they’re right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-697925578156258992011-12-16T23:25:00.000-05:002011-12-16T23:25:22.974-05:00STONE COLD DVD REVIEW - WWE.COM<div style="text-align: left;">(<em>Originally written for wwe.com, December 16, 2011)</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Every hall of fame athlete has indelible moments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">They’re what you see in slow-motion on Sportscenter over and over.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But without exception, those moments were born of passion, unparalleled work ethic and debilitating emotional and physical setbacks that had to be overcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In the new WWE DVD release, “Stone Cold Steve Austin”, we get to see how the Texas rattlesnake was no different.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The broad sketches of the Steve Austin are already legend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The early days in Dallas, learning both the business and how to live on a budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tumultuous years in WC, extraordinary in-ring work combined with the ever-frustrating politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The life-raft and free-reign of ECW that served as the turn from what was to what would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the misguided start at WWE (The Ringmaster…Fang McFrost?) until a cup of hot tea, and the years of lessons learned led him to find his voice…and change the business.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But the DVD tells us why.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">History is concrete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the moments that make are wet cement that could dry any number of ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Stone Cold Steve Austin, the bottom line of the most popular superstar of all time” takes us to the moment that very nearly changed that history, the tombstone piledriver that went horribly worng at Summerslam ’97.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">All of it leading to the Stone Cold Era that even now fans of John Cena and C.M. Punk happily replay in the DVD machine in their minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">All-time classic matches with Bret Hart, Mick Foley and the Rock, resonating with the sound track of Jim Ross.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And the unforgettable Raw history of the most unusual, and maybe most successful feud of all-time with Mr. McMahon, one of bedlam, bedpans and beer trucks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We hear from the all the key players in the evolution, Paul Heyman, Mick Foley, Bret Hart, Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco. All of whom played their parts perfectly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But maybe the best part of the DVD is the constantly recurring theme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That while it’s ostensibly the story of one man, one hall-of-fame superstar, the lesson is what happens when a promotion rallies around a star, and that star shines bright enough to put everyone on the team in the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1996 and 1997, WWE was in a life-and-death struggle with WCW.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Stone Cold phenomenon put the spotlight back on WWE where a roster of future hall-of-famers was already delivering a better product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The WWE and the roster helped make Stone Cold, and he in turn, made everyone on the roster better.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">That’s how championships, and Monday Night Wars, are won.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And that’s when wrestling leaves its fans indelible images of an era they won’t forget.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’ve been courtside for Game 7 of the NBA Finals, I’ve been lucky enough to call New Year’s Day bowls and national championship games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were never louder than the moment before a Stone Cold match when the glass broke.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">You can talk about Sammartino, Andre, Flair, Hogan and the Rock.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But on wrestling’s Mount Rushmore, they’re all fighting for the spots next to Steve Austin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I’m not sure we’d be saying the same about Fang McFrost<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-48529707426774220732011-12-04T01:27:00.000-05:002011-12-04T01:27:56.671-05:00Celtics and the Unbalanced Schedule - Nov, 27, 2011<div style="text-align: center;"> <strong><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Posted on Twitter - November 27, 2011</span></u></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Halftime break from watching Sanchez throw picks, one example of how the new NBA schedule changes? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inter-conference play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Here’s what I mean.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">If, and that’s a big if, the West is a tougher, deeper conference than the East has been the case for most of this new millennium, then the Celtics will benefit from a schedule that will nor feature more inter-conference games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a normal year, teams play 63% of their schedule against their own conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With 12 of the 16 games being cut from the schedule being against the teams from the other conference, that number now jumps to 73%.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How much shuffling of the original schedule will have to be done? Probably more than we realized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While home dates will largely remain intact, opponents will have to be shifted around quite a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, after Christmas, the Celtics would have had 25 games left Vs. the Western Conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That number now gets cut to 18.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So of the 13 home games originally schedules against western teams in 2012, four of them will now be changed to eastern teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if, for another example, that changes visits from San Antonio and Dallas to say, Washington and Charlotte, you do the math.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Six western teams will not visit the Garden this year and the Celtics will not visit six western cities.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Just some morsels to digest while we wait for real news…like an actual schedule, the free-agent period or any international incidents J.R. Smith is causing around the globe.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-53829734147005529262011-12-04T01:26:00.000-05:002011-12-06T01:27:11.547-05:00Celtics and the Short Season - Nov. 26, 2011<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><strong>Posted on Twitter - November 26, 2011</strong></u></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To commemorate today, the return of the innocuous Celtics stat. One that starts the debate on whether a short season helps or hurts.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The first, is the sobering realization that the Celtics (and everyone else I suppose) have lost the first two months of the season, a period of the season they have dominated at historic levels the last four years.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><u><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">CELTICS – NEW BIG 3 ERA (2007-2011)<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Games before Christmas: 94 -14 (.870)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Translation; They Celtics have been a 71-win team before Christmas, and a 52-win team afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Now, is that a factor of the lights, home-heavy early schedule, fresh bodies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be interesting to see which pattern holds in the first few weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We still haven’t seen the new schedule, but it will likely feature a healthy diet of back-to-back games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the first two-plus years of the New Big 3 Era, there was a misconception that the older Celtics struggled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t the case, but in the last two years, and in particular the second half of last year, it seemed to be catching up with them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Back to backs 2007-2009: 29-6 (.829) (.767 with rest)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Back to backs 2009-2011:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>19-28 (.404) (.744 with rest)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Last 10 back to backs: 2-8<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So while most have felt the short season would help the Celtics, I’ve been skeptical given the struggles last year in back-to-backs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s remember that the last time we had the truncated season, in 1999, the regular season was more like the NHL’s, a race just to make the playoffs where momentum, not home-court, ruled the day,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Knicks, an 8-seed, went all the way to the Finals.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So does the 66-game season, in the Celtics 66<sup>th</sup> NBA season, help or hurt?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The real answer is, we have no idea because we don’t know what the Celtics will look like after the free-agent frenzy begins in two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what we do know is that there’s NBA basketball again, so let debates like this begin.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4853146153279085325.post-87946438744667321802011-11-10T10:41:00.000-05:002012-04-28T19:14:10.569-04:00<h2 align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Defending Sorkin, Studio 60 and even LeBron<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">An NBA play-by-play guy that can’t bridge his league’s labor gap, uses the time instead to address the Aaron Sorkin gap<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em>(An excerpt of this piece was first published on Grantland on November 9, 2011)</em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a mark for Aaron Sorkin, an unabashed fan. Let me start there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> I have memorized West Wing speeches, burned out my Sports Night DVD, Googled all the dirt on his upcoming HBO show taking on cable news, unapologetically cribbed from him on and off the air and I know lines from a Few Good Men. And not just the Jack Nicholson ones. Keifer Sutherland, Noah Wylie, Kevin Pollack lines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But I have a friend, who apparently, can’t handle that truth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the years we’ve Billy Hunter-David Stern’d any number of topics, most of them rueful missteps by the Celtics in the draft. The role of the WNBA, Sarah Silverman’s place on the all-time greatest comedians list, the undeniable career intertwine of Shawn Michaels and Michael Jordan and true story, we’ve spent more time on the inconsistent timelines of the Rocky sequels and his son’s magic growth spurt after the Drago fight, than Stallone spent writing Rocky V.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually chances are, much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But this is what guys do, happily waste colossal amounts of time arguing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s deeply engrained in our DNA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">And as we’ve seen these last four months, in our NBA as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But unlike the well-stocked conference rooms of the Waldorf-Astoria and the all-night, geek-rave dance parties that the NBA labor negotiations have become, the math here is a lot less fuzzy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sports. Food. Girls. Beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">These are the four basic food groups that sustain any male relationship. And the reason, other than the obvious that, you know, what else is there? The hidden reason, is that they all spawn the true bond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The art of the never-ending, unwinnable argument.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course that could also apply to BRI, the Luxury Tax and the mid-level exception. But that unwinnable argument fails the following test.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Guys will argue about anything as long as it sounds like sports radio. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s how I know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">My Sorkin jag, which wavers between aficionado and zealot, has remained a constant, unwinnable argument for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week, at an ungodly hour of the morning I’m quickly learning accompanies parenthood, he texts me a link to a story bashing Studio 60 (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"</span><a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/case-file-1-studio-60-on-the-sunset-strip,63985/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">http://www.avclub.com/articles/case-file-1-studio-60-on-the-sunset-strip,63985/</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">, Sorkin’s ill-fated dram-edy that lasted a single-season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">A single season four years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Four and half years ago, to be exact.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The article? It was published last week. 1,581 days after the last episode aired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">1,581 days is a Presidential term, an NBA rookie contract, 22 Kardashian marriages. It’s three and two-thirds innings of a John Lackey start. It’s a very long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Studio 60 is the BRI of our unwinnable Sorkin argument. And we remain miles apart on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">See, as an NBA employee, unwinnable arguments are ruling my life at the moment. For </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">most the NBA lockout has been a source of mild frustration, mild amusement, or somewhat more-than-mild farcical comedy. But me? Yeah, I have a full year’s salary riding on the next few days. Riding on a process that’s featured both Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert -- who made his money in this generation’s ultimate pariah of predatory businesses, selling mortgages -- telling Billy Hunter and the players to “trust me”, and the players countering by handing the very delicate diplomacy of the negotiations to their most level-headed, compromise-seeking diplomat, Kevin Garnett.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The Cavs won’t win a championship before LeBron, but they certainly will before any of the players trust Gilbert. And putting Garnett in a position to negotiate labor peace was like putting the Hell’s Angels in charge of security at Altamont. (1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So as I sit here, waiting for Paul Allen to fly-in to the latest round of labor talks on some Microsoft hover-craft and destroy any optimism that the two sides have spent hours building, I suppose I’m left with some time to wonder why. Why do people still want to fight about Studio 60? Why is a show that so many people consider Sorkin’s epic-fail, still the topic of articles about said failure all this time later? And doesn’t the fact that people won’t let the show die make it, well, kind of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> a failure? (2) <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> ********<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Studio 60 was Sorkin’s much-anticipated and heavily-promoted return to network television in 2006, three years after his even more heavily-talked about departure from the West Wing franchise he created. (3) When that dust-up finally settled, Sorkin, as has been his pattern to become intensely interested in a subject and then writing about it, settled on Saturday Night Live, and its weekly environs as a suitable sequel to the Oval Office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember of course, that back in 2006 there still existed a faint, whimsical notion that you could write a scripted, fictional television show and people would watch, rather than simply pointing a camera at Snooki in the hopes she throws up on someone. Situation comedy as opposed to unintentional comedy of the Situation. (4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">After near unanimity of praise for the pilot, it took virtually no time before critics, and the intensely-growing volume and impact of the blogsphere were tearing it down. After 11 episodes there was a hiatus…then a schedule change…some dramatic and questionable plot twists…the always deadly hiatus-combined-with-schedule-change that saw ratings plummet and eventually, despite the rumors of HBO (where it could have had the Mad Men/Breaking Bad grow-into-itself lifespan) or another network coming to the rescue, that Bobby Simone feeling that there’s no way the patient is going to survive. (5)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In the days that followed, apparently all 1,581 of them, the Sorkin bashing seemed to shift from random torpedoes to borderline LeBron-coming-up-short-in-the-Finals glee. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">These were the arguments….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">If it was so good, why was it cancelled after one year?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There are no shortage of reasons. Was it “too smart” for the audience? Maybe. Was Monday night during the football season the best place to start it? Likely not. Did the simultaneous debut of an underdog 30 Rock with an eminently more likable public face, and de facto Bizarro-Sorkin Tina Fey, create an ER/Chicago Hope vortex in which only one could survive? Possibly. Was the basic premise of a drama about a comedy show too intricate for 21<sup>st</sup> Century network television, content to have Chaz Bono foxtrot? Probably too complex a question for someone who primary training is in memorizing football two-deeps and correctly pronouncing “medial collateral ligament” on the fly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But I do know that television tenure is a complicated formula into which quality doesn’t always factor. Arrested Development was on life-support from day one, not sure there’s ever been a better ensemble comedy. Dabney Coleman never needed Ted McGinley to curse one of his shows, they never seemed to survive the first year. And oh by the way, Family Guy? Cancelled after nearly three years of Studio 60-like schedule changes before it was brought back from the dead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m also pretty sure each episode was Albert Pujols-expensive with Carl Crawford-value for NBC. The cost of one of those guest stars alone could green light about six seasons of Robot Chicken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It wasn’t a realistic portrayal of a late-night comedy TV show…<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Really? This is our concern. The realism of a prime-time network show? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I worked in radio for a while right out of school. And for most of those mid-90’s years, I’d watch as every time Frasier Crane and Roz finished their radio show, they just got up and left the room. As if the station just magically kept running without anyone operating it like the Airplane blow-up auto-pilot doll. I never saw a bloggisist point that out. (6) Carrie Bradshaw lived in Manhattan and went clubbing every night in $500 shoes on a newspaper columnists’ salary. I’ve spent half my life in Boston. Go ahead, walk into any bar. They don’t know your name, they don’t want to know your name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But the most prevalent argument against the show, is also the most revealing. That the pretend sketches, on the pretend show, weren’t funny. Now, what is and is not funny is of course on the same unwinnable argument plane as Pepsi-Coke, and you say potato. But I would happily defend the Nancy Grace sketch where she frantically treats the lost cell phone of a college spring breaker with the same wild-eyed, unrelenting fervor as Casey Anthony, or Santa Claus climbing down the chimney of a little girl that wrote him a letter, and walking into a Dateline Catch a Predator episode, as beyond-realistic. Most of the sketches were presented in a Thursday afternoon, rehearsal state context as backgrounds to other scenes, intentionally unpolished. And were it my true intention to inflame this unwinnable argument, I’d catalog a similar lack of quality show-within-the-show-comedy sketches that have run on 30 Rock. But after a shaky pilot episode that included a few of them, Tina Fey was smart enough to move the show away from the sketches. But the 30 Rock apples-to-oranges side-by-side is the banana-in-the-tailpipe of the Studio 60 case, so let’s not fall for it. It misses the point and causes severe overuse of hyphens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Political wonks carved the West Wing on policy and procedural missteps. But that didn’t resonate. The exaggeration of the role of forensic evidence in solving crimes, the CSI effect, has its own Wikipedia page. (7) And I’m sure True Blood gets taken to task every week on </span><a href="http://www.wearerealvampires.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">www.wearerealvampires.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The unrealistic knock stuck to Studio 60, in the other cases it just bounced off David Caruso’s shades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sure there’s a problem with Studio 60’s realism, and it applies to West Wing, Sports Night and beyond. But it’s this. People are quick-witted and fast talking in Sorkin-world. They speak in complete, oftentimes elegant sentences. Spend five minutes on the phone with any company’s branch of customer service and you’ll realize the sketches weren’t the unrealistic part, the speeches were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I thought we watched television drama to escape our world. Let’s celebrate that.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> In the West Wing alternate-universe, Sorkin’s President Bartlet placed a memorably comedic call from the Oval Office to the Butterball Hotline at Thanksgiving. While the actual President at the time ignored urgent CIA memos and his VP shot a guy in the face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ll take the escape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The show went completely off the rails in the final few episodes.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Again, I say to the 2011 Red Sox, thank you for being our guide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Imagine what the final few weeks of that season, the final few weeks of that road house, Alex Karras-as-Mongo saloon of a clubhouse would have looked like if instead of being eliminated on the final night of the season, they’d been eliminated with 15 games to play. It would have been Lord of the Flies in there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course, the show was rushed at the end. Of course, once the one-and-done handwriting was on the wall, it felt like three seasons of storylines were crammed into the final few episodes of real estate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">At least he gave the fans of the show an ending. I mean, he could have gone with a network executive walking into the room in a Members Only jacket and then just cut to black.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sorkin’s ego made it a massive homage to himself.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s put to the side the fact that ego brings us pretty much everything piece of entertainment the atmosphere can absorb. That behind every great movie, behind every great TV show, every great baseball trade, and every Terrell Owens reality show was someone who believed more in himself, than anyone else did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as greed is good, ego is our creative friend. When Tony LaRussa makes a pitching change, when Keith Olbermann begins a final thought, when Floyd Mayweather and Larry Merchant give us the best television moment of 2011…ego is the gateway drug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course, Studio 60 is auto-biographical. The underlying tone of the underappreciated writer (and producer) coming back to “class up” a once-proud show is undeniable. And yes, in Sorkin-world, the notion of the semi-geek writer as hero, with an exaggerated sense of his own import and outkicking his coverage with women is a common thread. Even when Rob Lowe and Matt Perry aren’t playing the parts. (8) The marvelous yet bespectacled and dweebish Joshua Malina lands the spectacular Sabrina Lloyd (Sports Night) and Mary McCormack (West Wing). But this is hardly unique to Sorkin. Cameron Crowe’s 16-year old Almost Famous alter-ego competes with Billy Crudup’s rock star for the affection of Kate Hudson’s Penny Lane. Is John Grisham made so much money romanticizing and hero-worshiping the role of the lawyer, I’m surprised protesters haven’t tried to occupy him. Paul Giamatti and Ben Balaban didn’t play Mitch McDeere and Jack Brigance, Cruise and McConaughey did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course Matt Albie’s short-lived, 22-episode arc was drawn from real-life experiences. The same way Seinfeld, Everyone Loves Raymond and the mother of all this-was-my-life and now I’m making a billion dollars off of it shows, Roseanne, were. But apparently, only Sorkin’s auto-biographical prism trips the Humblebrag alarm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Does Sorkin have a big ego? I’ll take a wild stab and say yes. Is he fascinated by megalomaniacal, status-chasing characters like Mark Zuckerburg and David Sarnoff? Yes. If he were to show up in New York as a small market owner who writes all his scripts in Comic Sans would he fit right in? No doubt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But most of us that end up in broadcasting, at some point, probably very, very early in life, had something go horribly wrong. I mean, really, how ignored and needy must someone have been to need to grow up and get a job with a microphone where you’re essentially saying “listen to me, I’m talking!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Point is, big ego? Yeah, not really a deal-breaker for me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">*******<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not smart enough to know if Studio 60 was everything it could have been. Actually, I am. I’m sure that it wasn’t. But I know it was great television. It was smart, and funny and sharp and all Sorkin-bias aside, it was one of the great prime-time casts ever. Period. Brad Whitford, Matt Perry. Big time players like Stephen Weber, D.L. Hughley and the extraordinarily well-educated Amanda Peet. (9) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But the pilot grabs you, the early two-part “Nevada Day” is classic, the guest stars Ed Asner, John Goodman, Judd Hirsch made it feel big-time, the Christmas episode, a Sorkin hallmark from the West Wing run is a staple in my house every year. (10) The Matt-Danny-Jordan dynamic of threesome dependence was different, I fell in love with Sarah Paulson’s Holly Hunter…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">…and the writing was great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">That was more than enough. That’s great television.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I reject the notion that a show that speaks its language in complete, graceful sentences. That a show with a measure of intellect, makes you feel stupid. Or maybe I’m too stupid to realize when I’m being called stupid, either way, entertain me, you can call me whatever you like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But hey, decide for yourself, the beauty of its lifespan being cut so absurdly short, is that you can watch the whole series before a David Stern ultimatum runs out. Or do what we all do. YouTube the pilot and see if it grabs you in-between pop-up ads. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So what are we left with? The real question, why, four and half years after its cancellation, are people still debating and dissecting and tearing down a show that lasted 22 episodes. Why do all the characters have fake twitter accounts? Accounts that have tweeted more words now than the characters themselves actually got to speak?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The answer is that it wasn’t the show, it was its creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">People didn’t want to see Studio 60 fail, they wanted to see Aaron Sorkin fail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">By 2006, Sorkin was a star. The rarest of breeds, the writer who’d escaped the behind-the-scenes, soul-crushing life of back rooms, notes from the network and getting your best stuff cut, and was now out in front. How many writers of network shows and movies can you name off the top of your head? Go ahead…I’ll wait. (11)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So of course when the show hit the air, anyone who ever wanted to write a hit show, anyone that ever wanted to be a celebrity writer, anyone that ever wanted to be in front of the camera instead of behind it, had plenty of motive for dangling their hands angrily over the keyboard, waiting to hit send. Doctors hate Doctor shows. Cops hate cop shows. Comedy writers are going to hate shows about comedy writers. (12) If somewhere there are fat, animated guys that work at power plants, they’d probably blog about Homer Simpson’s emergency readiness and the fact that there would really never be a “sector 7-G”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I cringe when Any Given Sunday comes on (which seems to be twice a week on FX, someone must have gotten a deal on it because it’s replaced Cocktail as the Movie Guaranteed to Be On Somewhere Right Now.) Good movie, no question, but not only did Oliver Stone cast himself as the Miami Sharks play-by-play guy, he’s brutal. The only other time I’ve been completely taken out of a film like that was Kevin Costner’s swing-and-a-miss run at a Boston Accent in 13 Days. (13) What ego, I thought, to cast yourself in such a critical storytelling position and then butcher it. The “boom goes the dynamite” kid thought wow, this guy’s weak. Ever read an article about Oliver Stone’s play-by-play? Ever seen a blog post about it? Of course not. Because I, and maybe a couple of dozen zealots with a collection of Red Barber books and best-of-Vin-Scully DVDs, were the only ones who took offense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Those of us that call major league games, weren’t good enough to play. And just like a lot of people who write, and there’s no better example than Sorkin, we didn’t get the girl in high school. It’s probably what started them writing in the first place. Do we naturally become guardians at the gate of the way our professionals are portrayed? Will we take to the internet or the airwaves, or whatever podcast may be available to us to air that grievance? Hell yes, because no one else will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But piss off writers, and it’s on. The blogsphere has a special fury for writers scorned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So imagine setting a bar outrageously high, then lying in wait for the most celebrated performer in his genre to publicly fail on a huge, national stage. Of course it was a setup. Aaron Sorkin didn’t rent out the Boys and Girls Club of Connecticut to announce he was launching Studio 60.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But he may as well have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">And he learned what sports and pop culture have evolved into, and what Twitter has crystallized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Snark is the new praise. Or at the very least, the new Q rating. And setting people up to fail, so that failure can be publicly celebrated is our new national pastime. Simon Cowell bundled it with a black t-shirt to change television.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Easiest athlete to TweetSnark at right now? LeBron James. I know, because I do it. Some of the most retweeted, reaction-getting Tweets I’ve uneasily launched have been LeBron jokes. And I’m the guy who in real life has been driving his bandwagon for years. Want me to prove it again? Fine, I’ll say it. If he never plays another game, LeBron’s going to the hall-of-fame. 2-time MVP, 7-time All-Star, 2-time All-Star Game MVP. The only player to score 20,000 points in 10 NBA seasons is George Gervin. He’s the only one. LeBron has a chance to get there this year in 9 (14). When he wins a title…and he will win a title, it won’t matter…he’s already in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">And what if he does? Will we still be TweetSnarking his failures? Sorkin nailed Charlie Wilson’s War then won an Academy Award last year for the Social Network. And yet 1,581 days later, a fresh, new Studio 60 dissection is a Google Alert e-mail away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We kill Lebron, we bash Joe Buck, we boo John Cena and we trash Aaron Sorkin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">And these are the best guys we have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The irony being he inordinate amount of time, the extraordinary amount of energy spent tearing down our most talented people when it seems like most of the time, they’re beyond capable of doing it themselves. Sorkin’s been in rehab, last month broke his own nose and once got busted at the airport with enough drugs in his carry-on to supply the 1982 Pirates. Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden are an ESPN Films “what if” waiting to be made. I’ve idolized Billy Joel since the 4<sup>th</sup> grade, been blown away by his live shows, his virtuosity and a voluminous library of unparalleled literary and musical depth. But he can’t drive to the bagel place without hitting a tree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We can argue Studio 60. We can argue Billy Joel vs. Bruce Springsteen. We can argue my unalterable stance that Tim McCarver is the best baseball-analyst ever. Yes, I said that too. (15) We can argue all of the above. But you won’t win. And neither will I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Because some arguments, as Dan Gilbert, Kevin Garnett and the rest of the characters in this sad, NBA Labor slow dance marathon are about to find out, are simply unwinnable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">You just have to just find the middle ground, move on. The next unwinnable argument is usually just a Sportscenter away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">On September 9, 1969, the Rolling Stones gave a free concert at Altamont Speedway in Northern California. After several budget and location concerns, Stones’ management hired the Hell’s Angels to handle security, reportedly paying them in beer. The concert degenerated into a Red Sox-clubhouse-in-the-8<sup>th</sup>-inning-free for all. I’m also too young to remember it, but I watch a lot of VH1 and never miss one of their countdown shows with the word “shocking” in the title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually, I was tickled with the Paul Allen thing. When the 13-billion dollar man who could buy the NBA several times over stormed the negotiations last week like Ebenezer Scrooge hoarding every last piece of coal while the rest of the league stood shivering. Why did I love it? Because I had “Guy with the most money saying the stupidest thing” in my NBA Lockout Scavenger Hunt that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sorkin’s departure from the WW in 2003 was a multi-year drama build-up not unlike Terry Francona’s with the Red Sox. The show was almost always over-budget, Sorkin famously missed deadlines until he and Warner Brothers had to divorce. The final scene of his final episode ending symbolically with the President walking out of the Oval, having been removed from office. When they make the movie of the 2011 Red Sox….Kevin Costner’s Francona will exit the clubhouse the same way, except Josh Beckett will hit him in the back of a head with a half-eaten drumstick. (Already the second footnote on the 2011 Red Sox, who will no doubt go on to shatter records for most footnotes, and fried chicken jokes inspired.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">How fast did the Kardashian marriage collapse? This original footnote, “You watch, as these cheap shots at reality shows come back to haunt me and the Celtics sign Kris Humphries during the impending free-agent frenzy and I lose my seat on the charter to Bruce Jenner”, was out of date within 24 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">When Jimmy Smits decided to leave NYPD Blue in the fall of 1998, the show took us on a truly emotional roller coaster as his character Bobby Simone’s health seemed to pinball from week to week like the S&P 500, until his valiant struggle came to end, just in time for November sweeps. See, I like some non-Sorkin shows, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the true special moments of the lockout…in a tweet intended to fire back at his electronic critics, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert inadvertently fueled that fire by referring to them as “bogissists”, taking the ridicule up a notch to somewhere between Ashlee Simpson’s lip-sync and Jessica Simpson’s tuna-chicken. But really, on this one, we should let him slide. He and Sarah Palin. Why shouldn’t we get to make up new words if they make sense? This notion of deleting something when Microsoft puts a squiggly line under it is totally…I don’t know…ridonkulous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(7)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">You can debate the CSI Effect, but it definitely solved one of this quarter-century’s true mysteries. CBS’s inability to program 10pm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(8)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There was a time that those two names didn’t seem to fit in the same sentence. But Perry’s West Wing arc (in the final episodes of the Sorkin era), was that eyebrow-raising, Jason Bateman-first-season-of-Arrested-Development, I had no idea he could do that moment. And add to the Studio 60 what-if list, which is headlined by what-if it had been on HBO or A&E or AMC, how many lead Actor nominations would he have gotten if a multi-year run?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(9)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s true. I went to high school with Amanda Peet. She was a cool sophomore and I was a dorky senior that was more likely to sit home on a Saturday night charting a Dwight Gooden start, but the fact remains we went to high school together. Five years ago she got married at the school’s historic Meeting House, so now instead of being known as an historical landmark, or a cradle of 225 years of higher New York City education, it’s now thanks to Us Weekly known as the “place where Amanda Peet got married”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(10)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">By Christmas, I mean every year on like December 22<sup>nd</sup>, before the NBA, seemingly to infuriate Stan Van Gundy, sends us on a cross-country trip to play on Christmas Day. My son is 17 days old, Chris Rock taught me if you have a daughter, your only job as a father is to “keep her off the pole.” With that burden off the table, I’m choosing to raise my son to get a job where he’s not in a hotel room every Christmas watching “I Love the 80’s” marathons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(11)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t hit me with Tina Fey here. Her achieving both worldwide fame, and the honor of being one of the longest-tenured, unachievable crushes of my life, came as the result of her getting out in front of the camera, where she belonged. Her brilliant writing didn’t bring her fame, it gave her the turn at bat, which she crushed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(12)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The asterisk here is clearly drama versus comedy. Which is point which renders the entire Studio 60-30 Rock angle that is an automatic go-to it seems in any article on the subject. I’m confident law enforcement professionals were not nearly as interested in the accuracy of Barney Miller, than they were Andy Sipowicz. I’m sure if they had, Abe Vigoda as like a 96-year old New York City detective would have launched a Greta van Susteren talking-head debate about AARP and federal age limits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(13)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Law I’d pass if I went from locked out play-by-play guy to head of a movie studio like Maeby Funke; if you can’t do the accent, don’t try it. The Boston accent isn’t easy. Jimmy Fallon (“Noommaahhhh”) might be the only outsider who ever really nailed it. (Honorable mention to Julianne Moore in 30 Rock among others). Point is, who cares if Martin Sheen’s character in The Departed sounds like he’s from Boston or not? Someone please explain this to me. Really, explain it. If he just does Martin Sheen, we’re all fine with that. Instead, one of the great actors of our time tries to keep up with Leo and Jack by doing two hours of Mayor Joe Quimby.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(14)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually he won’t. The old joke goes the only one who could ever stop Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, etc., was Dean Smith, their college coach. LeBron won’t get to 20,000 this year. Billy Hunter and the NBAPA are on the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(15)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Tweet me all you want on McCarver, I’m not budging. I mean, I’m not an idiot I get it. I know why he drives some people nuts and even I, during one of the best World Series of my lifetime, held my breath when the Rangers’ third baseman was up, knowing we were one big hit away from Timmy dropping some Bard on us; “…a little more than Kinsler’s less than kind.” Followed perhaps seconds later by an grunt of Joe Buck mock approval. But I’ll make that trade. Listen to the man, he’s been on it for three decades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sean Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16499342775741970747noreply@blogger.com1