Celtics Title Town

What a strange, strange game.  There were so many fantastically good things, things we've been waiting for...

Jeff Green had another big game;  it looks more and more like Danny's faith in Green is justified, and it looks like Green's preseason was no mirage.  Mr. October (one of the writers called him that on Twitter) is turning into Mr. November finally!

The bench played great, pretty much winning the game for us.   KG and Pierce came through in the fourth quarter,  in a big way, but up till then the only starter playing really well was Rondo.  Green wasn't the only one who came up big.  Wilcox chipped in with 5 rebounds and several great alley-oops from Rondo.  Barbosa probably deserved the game ball, personally getting the Cs back into a game that they were losing between the first and second quarters, and replacing Rondo went down.   Even Lee seemed better, and Sullinger had some moments.   Our bench is starting to look like the powerhouse we anticipated.

But Rondo did go down.  He rolled his ankle late in the third and never got back into the game.  Apparently it wasn't serious, but I hope Doc gives him the next three games off.  We do not need this turning into a nagging injury.

Rondo did manage to keep his assist streak going, gathering ten assists in parts of  the second and third quarters (!), but his other streak did not continue.   Utah's pg, Mo Williams, hurt us a lot with his scoring, and only seemed to calm down when Rondo went out.  

It's amazing that we won this game, considering that the Jazz absolutely crushed the Celtics on the boards.  Granted, the Jazz have a strong front line,  but this was pretty awful.   The Jazz had more defensive rebounds than we had total rebounds, and 18 offensive rebounds to boot.  Our defense seemed uneven, sometimes good and sometimes not so good, but when it was good, the Jazz often grabbed the board and ended up scoring anyway.  It's really quite amazing that we won a game where we got outrebounded so badly.  This Celtics team is certainly developing its own kind of grit.  Sure would be nice if we could rebound, though.  Yet another article came out yesterday, this time at Celtics Town, purporting to explain that we don't actually need to rebound, and only stick in the mud idiots obsessed with old-school think we do (or something like that).   I  get so sick of such slickster commentary.  Rebounding matters, and it sucks that we suck at it.  It sucks a lot.

Even so, it was a good, tough win, with lots of positives.  If Rondo recovers quickly and well, it shows a lot of progress.  Rebounding is something we can do better on.  I just wonder if the Cs coaching staff cares enough about it.  They talk it up, I'm sure, but i don't see a team that is passionate about rebounding, or that consistently even blocks out.  It's been like this for years.  Doesn't help that Garnett remains our only real Big Man since The Trade.   I know, I know, it's crude to bring that up.  It's real though.  Still, Green was pretty awesome at times tonight.

Be better soon, Rondo!!!

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Funny video of Rondo hopping in celebration of Green's big facial dunk over Al Jefferson! 

http://www.sbnation.com/2012/11/14/3647670/jeff-green-dunk-boston-celtics