You got Rondo'd!

Game 2

It's become a cliche heading into the playoffs but still seems to be forgotten. On the stretch run of any close postseason game there will be opportunities for every player on the roster to make a big play. In game 7 of the 2010 Finals many Celtics fans dreams came true when Ron Artest was forced to take some of the biggest shots down the stretch and those same Celtics fans dreams were shattered when he made them.

In this game Carmelo was brilliant both offensively and on the boards. His 17 rebounds went a long way towards the Knicks 53-37 rebound edge. He made Paul Pierce work EXTREMELY hard on the defensive end and I give Paul credit because Carmelo had no business making most of those shots.

Rondo was aggressive right from the start and that was a good omen for the Celtics. He was attacking the basket relentlessly and rightfully so. D'Antoni will have his hands full trying to convince Toney Douglas to somehow slow Rondo down if Billups can't come back in this series and the damage may already be done if Rondo holds onto the confidence this game should give him. I would have easily bet against Rondo scoring 30 in any game in this postseason.

In the end though, it was coaching adjustments and the plethora of options Doc Rivers had at his disposal that did the Knicks in. Carmelo was doubled very hard down the stretch and for the most part made the right passes. Often the Knicks did not make the extra pass out of the double team, settling for the first open jumpshot rather than the best one. When you put the pressure on guys like Roger Mason, Bill Walker, and Jared Jeffries to make big plays, more often than not they will not be made. Yes I concede how big Jeffries late bucket was, but he couldn't replicate it.

For the Celtics, they were able to go to an option they rarely use in a game winning situation. They went directly into KG in the post. No pick n roll with Paul. No flare screen for Ray in the corner. No back screen for an alley-oop layup. Just a good old fashioned post entry and a "There's no way you can stop this from happening Jared Jeffries" hook shot from KG. A welcome sight for Celtics fans.

The Celtics still have their concerns. Rebounding on both ends and their bench production has to be better. I find it hard to imagine Amare or Billups missing many more games unless they are really injured. With Amare on the floor it will be very difficult for the Celtics to double as hard as they did tonight. Most immediate concern of all? MSG and New York City will be ROCKING for Games 3 and 4 and Carmelo has his swagger after that performance.

For the Knicks, Landry Fields has to be a concern. He's been a strength for them all season and they can't afford to have any players lose their confidence or mindsets with no help at the end of the bench. Toney Douglas had better slow Rondo down some or drop 30 of his own, which is very possible.

The Celtics know that they can count on every person on the floor down the stretch and that is continually the difference against this Knicks team. It will be interesting to see if the D'Antoni can find a way to hide his ineffective players or to get his effective ones healthy again.

Block Party

With less than a week left in the season, and Andrew Bogut being shut down for more surgery on his injured elbow, it is safe to say that he will lead the league in blocks per game. I just want to bring attention to this because Bogut has come to be one of the most under appreciated players in the game once again after flirting with gaining some notice during the Buck's exciting season last year. Let's face it, not many of us are watching Bucks games this year. They failed to progress from last season and fell into the muddled group of unimpressive eastern conference lottery teams.

Anyone who saw Bogut's injury last season should know how horrific it was. A dislocated elbow, sprained wrist, and broken hand seem to be an understatement after seeing the way his arm flailed about. I am no doctor, but I would dare to say that if anyone twisted a leg the way he twisted that arm they would likely never play professional basketball again. Yet Bogut underwent the surgeries, put the long hours into rehab and was able to play in 65 games this season. Sure, he shot only 44% from the free throw line but consider that he basically played the season with half the use he would normally have on that injured arm and it continually dislocated especially during the free throw motion. Naturally, his scoring was down, but Bogut was able to bring in a career high in rebounds averaging 11.1 a game and led the league in blocked shots at 2.58 per game.

In an NBA world where Kwame Brown and Greg Oden are condemned for not living up to the number 1 overall pick, Andrew Bogut should be praised. Sure he may not be the best player to come out of that draft, but nobody can question his character, his work ethic, or his production at the center position for a team most NBA fans disregard. If Greg Oden was lucky enough to someday develop into the player Bogut is even post-injury, than Portland would be counting their lucky stars.

Lastly, I just want to note a couple observations from looking at the league leaders in blocks.

• Most of the names in the top ten are who'd you would expect if you followed the NBA at all this season, Javale Mcgee, Dwight Howard (third), Okafor, Duncan, Bynum, and yes even Darko should be expected.
  

• Roy Hibbert wasn't only inconsistent in his scoring this year. He spent time at the top of this list during the season but finished 11th.
  

• Dwayne Wade, not surprisingly, was the top guard on the list at 25th.

• Tim Duncan led the league in blocks/foul at 1.19. The closest to him was Javale McGee at .83. Duncan does not cover the ground he once did defensively, but it is so telling that he is still able to block the amount of shots he does while being completely under control and limiting his fouls. Just another way this living legend is taken for granted.

• Also not surprising is the leader in Blocks/per 48 minutes at 4.22: Serge IBLOCKA. Pairing Ibaka and Perkins in the same front court for the playoffs will scare any team not named the Lakers.
  

Celtics @ Bulls: Looking Ahead

Here's the biggest difference about this Celtics team after the Perkins trade: their opponents are no longer afraid of them. It's not that Perkins is as scary as his mean mug aims at portraying him to be. It's what that group had accomplished in 2008 and 2010. Reference them as the starting 5 who never lost a playoff series, or include Baby Davis and call them the 6 with a ring. Regardless, that team had a mental edge over every other team in the league besides the Lakers. That's no longer the case and that was evident tonight in Chicago.

After the trade there is a seed of doubt planted in every opponents head. Bring Shaq back, and get good minutes out of Jeff Green and Nenad and those teams still have that little morsel of belief that they can topple this aging giant.

I want to be clear. This does not mean the Celtics have no shot at getting to the Finals. What it does mean is that this team is in for one hell of a battle to get there. If the Celtics thought that the playoffs were grueling last year... Regardless of what you think about the Heat, playing two talents like Lebron and Wade in a single playoff series will be daunting. Chicago? Well as we saw tonight, they believe in themselves, they will not back down, and they will defend. Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau knows the Celtics in and out and the Celtics do not want to play a game 7 in Chicago where the Bulls are tied with the Spurs for a league-best 35-5.

The dirty little secret that Chicago has covered up by the exceptional play of Luol Deng is that the Bulls are not all that big of a team. Without, and probably even with, Shaq the Celtics have a big hole up front. The Bulls are not likely to exploit that weakness outside of Derrick Rose's antics. The Celtics will have to treat Chicago much like it often did with Orlando in the past and commit to forcing Rose to take as many jumpshots as possible and limit the rest of the team's scoring. Boozer struggles with length (which KG has in spades) and Noah struggles to score, as relentless as he is. Simply put, against the Bulls the Celtics are not at the disadvantage that has led to Roy Hibbert scoring explosions and will be utterly impossible to cover up against the Lakers should they meet.

Tonight's game may not have taught us much we didn't already know but it did reaffirm much of what we did. The Bulls are a very good team (especially defensively), they are not afraid of the Celtics, and they are great at home.

The Celtics take on the Wizards tomorrow night in the second of a back to back. They are 7-10 in games on the second night of a back to back this season. Keep an eye on Jordan Crawford who has scored double digits in 16 straight games and is averaging 21.5ppg over that span.

Stats that May or May not Matter:

• Only 14 assists for the Celtics tonight, 6 by Rondo (Rose had 8)
  

• Celtics were outshot 47%-38%

• The Celtics were outscored by 22 points in the paint and were 2-10 from 3
  

• 18 of the Celtics 81 points were off turnovers, the Celtics half court sets were atrocious tonight and a lot of that was because of Chicago's defense; deflections, deflections, deflections...sound familiar?