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- A good defence beats a good offence. This is one of those truisms that is repeated in the context of every sport. Pitching beats hitting in baseball. In football it's defence wins championships. In hockey? Say hello to the neutral zone trap. And in basketball whenever anyone tries to go against the grain – the Suns, Warriors or Nuggets come to mind – naysayers are always quick to point out that those teams score nicely in the regular season, but have always fell short at playoff time. It's not like the Celtics are a terrible offensive team or the Lakers an awful defensive team, it's just that Boston is a great team without the ball and the Gasol-era Lakers have been shockingly good with it. Something had to give, people figured. Game 1 was an interesting microcosm in that respect: The Lakers shot a comfortable 50 per cent in the first half and led by six. The Celtics packed it in better in the second half, forcing a misfiring Kobe Bryant to make those jumpers, and they end up winning going away.
- It will be really interesting to see how Paul Pierce responds come Sunday. While not pretending to be an elite athlete or anything, my experience with strains and sprains suffered in games is that you can usually get through the event as long as the injury isn't too traumatic. The problems come in the next few days when the swelling starts and the stiffness sets in. The adrenaline is gone and all you've got a sore knee, or whatever. Just because Pierce finished strong last night is no reflection on what he'll have to offer Sunday. He might be fine, but he might be really hobbled. Obviously the story line to follow in the next few days.
- I'm a big Ray Allen fan. Although his game seems pretty limited now compared to what it was – he could really crown guys way back; now he goes to the paint like he's trying not to sprain his ankles – he's still enjoyable to watch in that Reggie Miller, Richard Hamilton kind of way. I got to the arena early last night and there was Allen doing his three-hours-before-the-game shooting routine, like always. He describes the ritual as a calming kind of experience, the pleasure he takes in being in the arena alone with the ball and his thoughts an essential part of his preparation. Well he was there last night but so was everyone else. There must have been 300 people around and on the floor three hours before the game – media, tech folk and who knows who else. Not exactly the most Zen-like setting. But Allen was out there doing his thing, every step choreographed. There was no expression on his makes, which were about 90 per cent, and just winces for the odd miss. He looked great, really magnificent. And then the cool part was when he was done he made a point of shaking the hands of everyone who was on the floor with him: a couple of Celtics trainers; about four or five ball boys. And not just little lookaway daps either. They were formal, ball-under-the-left-arm, right hand extended, old school, firm grips. Cool, I have to say.
- If you had to watch Rajon Rondo for an entire season, I think you'd go crazy. I mean, he's got some talent and everything, but he's a very, very, very, average point guard. Maybe even bad. Coaches call guys who bog down the offense ‘patters' because when the ball comes to them the hold it and pat it while figuring out what they want to do. Chris Bosh does this a little bit. It's not like there's some ego-centric conspiracy at work; it just takes them a little while to figure out what their next move should be. When Bosh does this it's not the end of the world because, well, the Raptors are pretty well served when he finally makes up his mind. Rondo is a patter, which is the kiss of death for a point guard. He doesn't literally pat it that often. Sometimes he just kind of dribbles in place and waves guys around. Other times he sort of dribbles half heartedly in one direction before getting in trouble and having to make a defensive pass. On one possession in the first quarter he did both: He took 12 seconds to get the Celtics into their set and then kind of drifted left without any real purpose before finally lofting a bailout pass back to where he came from that got picked off. You just knew Ray Allen was rolling his eyes.
- The easiest way for Rondo to fix this is to develop a really good one or two dribble jump-shot. Right now the defense basically runs away from him. As a result he's got nowhere to go because he doesn't what to shoot it. He starts to dribble hoping to get to the basket but the defence is there already, so he kind of stops. Two hard, meaningful dribbles and pull-ups from the elbow would fix that pretty fast, I bet.
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D D from Canada writes: Refs made errors on a lot of obvious calls in this game...these are supposed to be the best of the best...but there were a lot...should put a big white line through that huge trophy decal because they screwed up 2 calls due to it.
- Posted 06/06/08 at 2:34 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
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Jim Terrets from Vancouver, writes: Michael, why are you always hating on young point guards? First it was TJ Ford who you wanted to run out of town, and now its Rajon Rondo's turn to get "the business."
Yes, Rondo has some holes in his game. That's because he's 22 years old and in his second year. It's not a surprise. Players like Chris Paul and Deron Williams are exceptions to the rule, that's why they get the attention they do. Most young point guards are like Rajon Rondo, they have a lot of positives but also a few weaknesses they need to work on.
Rondo has done a great job considering its his first playoffs and he's done a great job handling the situations and pressure the Celtics have faced in getting to the finals. He also played well last night. Maybe your expectations are out of whack, not every point guard is Chris Paul.- Posted 06/06/08 at 5:16 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
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