| 05 May 2009
Speaking of protection, before I get into the things that I did like in last night's game I'd like to get into one big thing that I didn't like. I wrote back in March after attending a Celtics-Magic game that I witnessed a block into the third row and it may have changed my view on blocking shots into the stands. It's kind of a snobbish thing for hoops geeks to have an opinion on because then you get into the contrived argument of playing the game the right way. I'm not by any means saying that I don't reside on one side of the fence in this argument. But sometimes it gets to the point of being overkill and just someone trying to show how smart and unique their basketball perspective is when in fact 100,000 other basketball bloggers and know-it-alls have the EXACT SAME opinion.
Well, it happened again Monday night in the Celtics-Magic game in which Dwight Howard blocked a shot well into the stands like only one other person (Gabrielle Reese) can do on the reg. Here's the video via NESW Sports and the incomparable Ethan Jaynes:
Okay, so here's the problem with this majestic and flat out impressive block. He swatted it into the stands when he could have easily caught it. To me, having a guy catch my shot would be much more demoralizing and intimidating because it's essentially a blocked shot and a turnover and an imposing of your physical prowess all in one spectacular play. Instead, the Celtics retained the ball and Big Baby hit a jump shot on the inbounds play. Check out this block by Chris Webber back in the day and tell me if both are equally eye catching:
Isn't that equally as demoralizing? And it's a turnover! Come on, Dwight! Find a new way to dazzle us. Now here are some of the things that I quite enjoyed about this Game One showdown:
- Stephon Marbury got a little confidence back. We all remember that sequence towards the end of Game Five in the Bulls series. Marbury had a wide-open jumper that he passed up in favor of a rushed Rondo push shot (can't quite call it a floater, runner, hook, or jump shot). It made me think of two things: 1) Marbury must have zero confidence in himself at that moment and 2) I haven't seen someone blatantly blow an offensive possession like that since Sidney Deane hustled Billy Hoyle over at Watts with $1750 and a Zircon on the line.
But in Game One of this Orlando series, Marbury finally seemed comfortable on offense. He initiated his first basket by driving hard towards the hole and throwing up a tough fall-away runner. It was one of those Coney Island, Lincoln High School shots that he used to drop on the reg. After that, he stuck a jumper. All in all, he seemed to find a perfect balance between being aggressive and staying within the team. It's just one incident but if he can be that kind of player off the bench for Boston, they'll go a lot deeper into these playoffs than we all think.
- J.J. Redick seemed to have a little bit of a revival. He's one of those guys that is simply hated because he went to Duke and scored a ton of points. If he was playing at a mid-major college, he would have been revered by the internets like Stephen Curry. But he went to Duke so everybody is supposed to hate him, his non-tan (dude, you live in FLORIDA!), and his hair gel. Well, it's good to see him play some quality minutes against a solid defensive unit. He scored 12 points in 29 minutes as the fifth option on the floor. He made two threes and even drove to the basket on a surprising play. Not only was his offense solid but he played defense like he knew what he was doing. He did a great job of not worrying about helping his teammates out and stuck to Ray Allen when he was matched against him. He and the Magic are not going to keep Ray to single digit scoring and 2-12 shooting all series but it's good to see him not going the way of Trajan Langdon.
- I love watching Kendrick Perkins and Dwight Howard battling each other. This may end up being the best center versus center battle over the next 10 years. It isn't Wilt-Russell, Jabbar-Parish, or Shaq-Hakeem but it's definitely a battle worth noting. Perkins does a fantastic job of keeping Howard out of his comfort zone and often had him catching the ball around the 10 to 12-foot area. That's not an area of the floor that Dwight excels in and it showed in his scoring. Dwight still got 16 points but his aggressiveness was limited and he didn't get a single dunk. On the other end, it was interesting watching the Celtics go to Perkins early to try and draw Howard's second foul. Perkins has grown a lot on the offensive end of the floor and may end up being a guy who can give 12 to 14 points per game consistently. These guys battle each other extremely well and I'm looking forward to their match-up on Wednesday.
- Rajon Rondo's missed dunk attempt on Dwight Howard was the young player sending a message. During the third quarter when the Celtics were down 28, the building still had some energy and it felt like the Celtics were pissed off at themselves. You could feel that they weren't going to lay down like the Hornets did in their series and they would at least try to end the game positively, whether they won or not. And the tone was set by Rajon Rondo's dunk attempt on Dwight Howard. Rajon had already been to the free throw line four times in the past two minutes and was clearly amping up his aggression. So he found some daylight on the right wing and decided to challenge the Defensive Player of the Year.
And I think that ignited this Celtics team to show them that they had nothing to fear from this Orlando team. Orlando is a nice team with a guy that will be a Shaq-type of force (relative to modern times) but they aren't someone who can challenge for a title right now. Rondo reminded them of that on this dunk attempt. The dunk didn't go down and he was fouled by Dwight on the play but the message was sent that they were not going to go away easily. They were going to fight all series long no matter what. They closed the game the right way and will need to carry that energy into the second game.
If they can avoid the big letdown early in Game Two, they should be able to take advantage of whatever run the Magic allow in the second half.
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