Parquet Wishes and Leprechaun Dreams

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Reactions: a Game Four collage

Since we live in a visual society, I decided to try and capture the mood of online Celtics fans with the help of my old friend, the "PRT SCR" key (en.wikipedia.org) ...

Click for larger image

Screengrabs (all seventeen of them, note the symbolism) were taken from the following sources:

igtc.com

sports.yahoo.com

boston.com

the-w.com

celticsblog.com

soulhonky.com

insidehoops.com

nba.com

sports.aol.com

sports.espn.go.com

projo.com

bostonherald.com

forums.fark.com

viewernetwork.net

celticsgreen.blogspot.com

playitusa.com

proboards18.com

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

It's better to get this out of our system now?

I don't know, the "experts" were claiming that things were going a little too easy for the Celtics, that they had nothing but meaningless wins over inferior opponents in the final weeks of the regular season, plus two blowout victories against the Atlanta Hawks to open the postseason ... Supposedly, they weren't being "challenged" enough, and needed to toughen up in preparation for some stiffer competition in the later rounds; therefore, these so-called "experts" suggested that it might be in Boston's best interests if they played a couple of close games against the Hawks, just to test their mettle a little bit. Hey, after all, the Hawks are so far out of the C's league, that they can afford to play in some tight contests against them, since they're obviously good enough to prevail and win this series, right? Right?

Hmm, where are those experts now, I wonder?

See, this is exactly what I was afraid of ... People get cocky, people get overconfident, and suddenly the prevailing notion (amongst the talking heads in the media, amongst the fans, and perhaps even amongst the players in the Celtics locker room) is that we can just look ahead to the second round with absolutely no worries. Meh, the Hawks are bush-league, bring on Lebron or Arenas!

Now look where the "experts" are: from complaining that four blowout wins will make for a "boring" series, to actually entertaining the notion that Atlanta might advance (hey, SportsCenter brought up the possibility this morning, so there are some people floating the idea around) ...

Personally, I'm not ready to push the panic button just yet; no no, I refuse to even entertain the notion that the C's won't make it out of the first round (although I'm sure Mike Bibby is giggling like a schoolgirl at the prospect of fair-weather fans jumping off the Beantown bandwagon); after all, maybe the Celtics really did need to be knocked around a little bit. Maybe it really is good for them to have their confidence rattled right off the bat - rather than against a battle-tested group like the Pistons or Spurs - so that they can be better prepared for the challenges that lie ahead on the "Drive for 17" (TM).

Still, when the team with the league's best record suddenly can't hold onto a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter against the friggin' 37-45 Atlanta Hawks, you can't help but be a little concerned ... If nothing else, it's suddenly giving Atlanta fans an excuse to feel a little cocky themselves (blueworkhorse.com).

Sunday, April 27, 2008

First loss of the postseason comes earlier than expected ...

Y'know, for the last week or so, I've had to listen to Felger and Tanguay over at Comcast (newengland.comcastsportsnet.com) argue that this series was going to be boring as hell and that maybe the Celtics should have at least one close game - rather than four straight blowouts - in order to better prepare themselves for the second round ... Now, while it's nice to hear the C's spoken of in such reverent terms after watching them languish in obscurity over the last few seasons, it just made me "nervous" to hear people getting so cocky.

Granted, I still don't think the Hawks have a chance in hell of actually winning the series, but the fact remains that they did execute a fairly convincing beatdown in Game Three (nba.com) ... And now, I fully expect the rhetoric to switch over to the opposite spectrum, where Felger and Tanguay are complaining that the Celts are showing a lack of heart and that suddenly they're not as good a team as "we" all thought they were; be careful what you wish for, boys.

Oh yeah, one more thing ... While I don't want to make excuses for the team, the shot clock situation last night certainly seemed a little fishy to me; as soon as the second half started and it was revealed that the PA announcer would "count down" the seconds because the clocks were no longer working (wink wink), it didn't take Nostradamus to predict that we'd be seeing time magically disappear on the Celtics' end of the floor, while the Hawks would receive the benefit of a few extra stolen moments at their end.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for this prediction to come true ... and more than a few people noticed (bostonherald.com):
Both teams had to suffer through the inconvenience.

That was the standard Celtics response to the dilemma of playing without a shot clock from the start of the second half until 6:48 remained in the game.

However, at least one player detected the aroma of home cooking once the digits went blank.

“It was different, man,” Kevin Garnett said after the Celtics’ 102-93 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. “I think when Josh (Smith) got a block on (Rajon) Rondo (in the third), the seconds were three seconds. Then all of a sudden they called a shot clock violation. That was kind of weird. That’s playing on the road, man. You can’t (complain) and moan about that stuff. It’s called homecourt for a reason.”

The Hawks did respond better to the awkwardness of listening for the public address announcer to count down the last five seconds of each possession.

“We all played ball without a clock growing up,” Ray Allen said. “We’ve all seen a lot of different and weird things, but this really didn’t help or hurt us.”

That’s not to say that the situation was completely free of human error. Virtually the entire C’s bench jumped up in protest when Al Horford had enough time to hit a third-quarter 3-pointer thanks to a particularly long gap in the countdown between the fourth and third seconds.

The Celtics were then whistled for a shot clock violation when, as the ball bounced out of bounds off Smith’s block of Rondo, the announcer appeared to have reached three seconds.
The Atlanta Hawks, masters of the space-time continuum! Hey, maybe the Philips Arena staff just needed 1.21 Jigowatts (bttf.com) to get those clocks running again ...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sorry, I have a sick mind ...

Image from boston.com

As soon as I saw this photo, the first thing that popped in my head was that the caption should read:

"Paul Pierce is about to experience a 69 the hard way!"

Alright, enough sophomoric humor, the good news is that The Truth is doing fine after that little altercation with the Hawks' Josh Smith, and should be good to go for Game 3 (boston.com):
Celtics forward Paul Pierce is doing fine after receiving treatment and massage on his injured back yesterday. Pierce injured his back during hard foul in the first quarter of the Game 2 win over Atlanta on Wednesday. The six-time NBA All-Star is expected to play in Game 3.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

ESPN.Com poll (04/23)

What is evident in the NBA playoffs so far (sports.espn.go.com)?

Chris Paul is the league's best point guard (50%)
The Celtics will cruise into the Finals (20%)
The Suns should'nt have traded for Shaq (9%)
The Mavs miss Keith Van Horn badly (20%)

Total votes: 127

Hey, at least they're not asking about KG blowing out a kneecap again ...

EDIT: A day later and the Celts are losing ground!

Chris Paul is the league's best point guard (47%)
The Celtics will cruise into the Finals (19%)
The Suns should'nt have traded for Shaq (12%)
The Mavs miss Keith Van Horn badly (22%)

Total votes: 8455

Aw man, we're losing to Keith Van Freakin' Horn! Even if you limit it to just Massachussetts voters (501 total votes), the Celts only come in at 55 percent ... That's just not gonna cut it, people!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

DEE-fense! Uh, uh! DEE-fense! Uh, uh!

Was there ever any doubt that KG would be named Defensive Player of the Year (nba.com)?

After Monday's practice, Doc Rivers said it would be tough for any Celtics to be honored for any individual league awards because of the role-playing style his team plays.

Apparently, Kia Motors really does have the power to surprise. After Tuesday's practice, the NBA and Kia proved Rivers wrong and named Kevin Garnett the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, recognizing KG's impact on a Celtics defense that ranked first in field goal percentage allowed, three-point field goal percentage and scoring differential, and ranked second in points allowed.

Garnett is the first Celtic to win the award since its inception in 1983, and he joins an elite club of defensive stalwarts who've won the award, including Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dennis Rodman, Dikembe Mutombo and David Robinson.

A call to arms ...

Kudos to the Celtics Beagle (celticsbeagle.net) for this rallying cry to Beantown fans as the first round rolls along ... You can read the whole stirring tribute here (igtc.com), but here's a little snippet:
Our starting Point Guard, Rajon Rondo, was born four months before
the Celtics won their last Championship.

The veterans on our team were all little kids.

The Celtics of today are not the storied teams of old. The direct
connections that flowed back in the days when the new guys played
rookie seasons as the Legends that preceded them were nearing
retirement and eventual enshrinement in the Hall of Fame were gone.

Red Auerbach died over a year ago, never to see this magical season
from his familiar Loge seat.

So who guides these young players, with so much drive and enthusiasm?

We do.

We, who grew up watching Russell and Cousy, Heinsohn and Havlicek,
Bird and McHale, and all the others.

We are that connection. We are Red Auerbach's cigar, Loscy's
hard-nosed play, and Johnny Most screaming that Havlicek stole the ball.

We want this team to win, we have hoped and prayed and bragged and
whined and begged for this team to win as we sat through the seasons
of degradation and losses both of games and of people.

This season, they gave us one of the finest regular seasons in NBA
history. They took game one against the Hawks. But we need look no
further than Detroit and Washington to see where complacency and
comfort get you.

Wednesday night, the Celtics host the Hawks again.

Celtic Fandom, it's your time. If you can go to the game, rock the
building to it's very foundation, until the buried remains of the old
Boston Garden thrum with the sound. If now, be outside, add your
support from the street. if you're at a restaurant or a bar, rock
THAT building to it's core. If you're at home, watching on tv,
listening on the radio, or online, let our voice be heard so the
team knows we are there, across the country and around the
world. Then do the same for the away games in Atlanta. We KNOW they
never fill their court, so let US do it!

Monday, April 21, 2008

On 4/20, the Hawks got smoked ...

Image from d.yimg.com

There was a bit of a hazy atmosphere to the Garden at the start of the game (thanks to the opening fireworks display, not any second-hand smoke from people celebrating the "holiday") ... However, it was looking like the C's were the ones suffering from a severe contact high, as they actually let the lowly Hawks get within two points early in the second quarter.

While it was just the second quarter, you could kind of tell that the crowd was getting a little antsy (I think New England fans are still a little gun-shy about "sure things" in sports, and will panic at the slightest hint that an upset is in the making) ... No worries, though, as the troops got over their early postseason jitters and eventually "settled" on an 104-81 victory (sports.yahoo.com).

Now we hafta wait until WEDNESDAY for Game Two? Awww ...

Sunday, April 20, 2008

My latest video game (First Round Edition)

To get everyone warmed up for tonight's Boston-Atlanta contest, here's the latest in my continuing series of crappy video games ... I'm sure old-skool NES fans (mobygames.com) will get a kick out of it ;)




INSTRUCTIONS
Move the target with the mouse and click the mouse button to shoot. Click and hold the mouse button on the Reload circle to refill ammo.

The only chance Atlanta has in giving the C's problems ...

... is if Joe Johnson holds a grudge (boston.com):
Just after learning he made his sixth All-Star team, Celtics forward Paul Pierce's first reaction was: "Joe Johnson?"

Pierce was surprised that his ex-Celtics teammate, now with the Hawks, made the Eastern Conference team at guard over his current teammate, Ray Allen. Pierce was one of seven players voted in as an East reserve by the conference's coaches. Celtic Kevin Garnett already was voted in as a starting forward by the fans, while coach Doc Rivers and his staff earned the right to coach the East.

Johnson is averaging 21.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.3 assists for the 18-23 Hawks. Allen is averaging 18.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists for a Celtics team that is an NBA-best 36-8 after last night's 96-90 win over Dallas.

"I felt like [Allen] probably should have been over Joe Johnson," Pierce said. "That's just my opinion, though. They don't have a good record. They are not a .500 team. If that's the case, I think you should be on a .500 team or better.

"No knock on Joe Johnson. He's definitely an All-Star. He's definitely put up numbers and he is definitely a great talent in the NBA. But I think it also should do a lot with what you do as a team."

Pierce said "that's crazy" when he heard Allen didn't make it.
It's been a couple months, but it's possible that the former Celtic could have this "dis" still sitting in the back of his mind, eating away at him. So, what better way to show up his ex-teammate and prove that he's an All-Star calibre player than by coming out like gangbusters in the postseason*?

Of course, Johnson did have one chance to prove Pierce wrong after the All-Star break (sports.yahoo.com), and looked like pretty much anything except an All-Star (40 MIN, 9 PTS, 4-16 FG, 0-6 3PTers, 4 TO) ... We'll have to see if the playoff atmosphere doesn't stir something up inside of him.

Which reminds me ... The road to banner number 17 begins tonight, baby!




*Remember, the title of this post says that Atlanta could have a chance to "give the C's problems", NOT "win the series" ... After all, I ain't no dummy.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

ESPN.Com travels back in time ...

... and looks at the last time both the Lakers and Celtics held the top spot in their respective conferences (sports.espn.go.com):
Wondering when the last time the Lakers and Celtics were both the No. 1 seed in their conference?

Relax, we've already looked it up for you -- it was 1988. How has the world changed since then? Take a look:

Making their debut
1988: Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, Mark Jackson
2008: Morris Almond, Marco Belinelli, Coby Karl, Oleksiy Pecherov

Hot video game
1988: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo Entertainment System)
2008: Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii)

MVP finalists
1988: Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley
2008: Garnett, James, Paul, Bryant

Born
1988: Kevin Durant (9/29)
2008: Baby Kidd (TBA)

Still in the league
1988: Artis Gilmore, Caldwell Jones, World B. Free, Paul Mokeski
2008: Dikembe Mutombo, Eric Piatkowski, Bo Outlaw, Penny Hardaway

Number of players attempting 200 3-pointers
1988: 4
2008: 93

Isiah Thomas
1988: All-Star, NBA finalist, most beloved man in Detroit
2008: Coach of worst Knicks team ever, most hated man in New York City

No. 1 song on Billboard 100
1988: "Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car," Billy Ocean
2008: "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis

All-Star highlight
1988: James Donaldson makes the Western Conference roster
2008: San Antonio wins Shooting Stars competition

Television
1988: Writer's Guild of America goes on strike
2008: Writer's Guild of America goes on strike

NCAA Champion
1988: University of Kansas
2008: University of Kansas

Friday, April 18, 2008

Watch out Sarah Connor!

This is so going to be my desktop wallpaper for the duration of the playoffs ...

Image from nba.com

Heh, "Terminator Model KG4MVP-08" ... Maybe FOX can sign him up for a guest spot next season (fox.com); hell, they already got Pierce for an appearance on "Unhitched", so they would just have to air a special showing of "He Got Game" (imdb.com) and they'd have completed the Celtics trifecta!

Sam Cassell wishes to express that he has giant testicles through the art of pantomime


The testicle dance. The ol' two-ball shuffle. La salsa de la scrotum.

No matter what the name, Sam Cassell's little victory dance - whereby he wants to make sure the viewing audience understands that he does indeed have the testicular fortitude to make the big shot when called upon to do so - has garnered quite a bit of attention over the years.

Simmons has devoted columns (sports.espn.go.com) to it. It's been scientifically proven to be more popular than Lebron James (sports.yahoo.com). It's so mesmerizing that Reggie Evans once tried to reach out for Sam and ended up grabbing Chris Kaman's testicles by mistake (latimes.com).

Now that the playoffs are nearly upon us, it may be time for Sammy to go "ballz to the wallz" and put those grapefruits (en.wikiquote.org) on display like never before. Perhaps the C's can even use that sac-tacular energy to their benefit, promoting his ceremonial gyrations into a type of "rain dance" which will shower the club's postseason run with good fortune ... In fact, screw it; Cassell ain't no alien anymore, from now on he's a tanuki (students.ou.edu):

Huevos Dance

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Well, that was disappointing ...

What, you think I'm talking about the end of the regular season? Heck no, I'm ready to get on that road to Banner Number 17 (drivefor17.tv)! Besides, who could be disappointed in a 66-16 record (nba.com)? Or securing homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs? Or achieving the greatest turnaround in league history (plus-42 in wins)? Or becoming the first NBA team to go from worst to first in their conference?

No, I'm (obviously) not disappointed in the Celtics' performance this season, I'm disappointed in MY performance this season.

I warned you guys long ago that graduate school might turn into a soul-crushing beast that eats away at all of my free time (or something like that) ... Sure enough, once the All-Star break was over, games just started to pile up in my DVD recorder (hopefully we'll be getting a DVR [charter.com] soon and I won't have to bother with allocating space on all of those blasted disks) and I couldn't devote the time to writing my signature recaps like I wanted.

So, having to choose between writing more recaps and writing up my assignments, I had to side with where the money lies (school ain't cheap, folks!), thus abandoning my main source of blog material for the rest of the season. However, I figured that I could still bang out a quick article or op-ed piece in order to keep this place alive, but even that proved to be difficult with my current schedule ... And so good ol' PWALD languished in near-hibernation status, the apparent victim of another well-intentioned cyber-journalist who simply couldn't cut the mustard any longer and had to give up the ghost (*sniff*).

Luckily, the semester ends in just under two weeks - yay! - which means that (even though I'll probably miss some of the first round depending on whether or not we sweep or the Hawks steal one game) I'm hoping to get back on the horse and start up my recaps for the postseason.

No promises, though ... Still, here's hoping that not all of you have abandoned me, and you'll stick around to see what meandering musings I'll come up with next!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Toro! Toro! Toro!

Proof that mascots are evil creatures (bostonherald.com):
Last night, in the process of the Celtics completing a series sweep of the Chicago Bulls for the first time since 1986-87, Kevin Garnett and James Posey engaged in some late-game trash talking with Benny the Bull.

“Bulls can talk,” said Garnett, who initially was upset after he and Posey were hit in the back by clothing fired from a T-shirt launcher during a timeout in the closing minutes of the C’s 106-92 victory. “Walking off the floor we got hit by some shirts.”

Garnett initially had to be restrained by a member of the officiating crew as Benny stood a safe distance away.

“I turned around, saw the guy in the bull hat, and we had some words,” Garnett said.

Posey, not a favorite in Chicago dating back to when he was a member of the Miami Heat, cringed in mock fear.

“I don’t know - I feel threatened,” Posey said. “I don’t feel safe. They really have tough love here, but it was definitely an inside job. They made the mascot do it. I got hit in the back walking away. That spot on my back is sore. I might have to get treatment on it.”

The Benny encounter brings to mind an incident four years ago when Ricky Davis returned to Cleveland for the first time in a Celtics uniform and witnessed the sight of Moondog, the Cavaliers mascot, mopping the floor with a replica of his old Cleveland jersey. Moondog later was suspended for the act.
UPDATE: Chicago responds (boston.com):
A Bulls official said this morning that their mascot Benny the Bull is innocent. He is accused of hitting Celtics players Kevin Garnett and James Posey with T-shirts, according to the players.

Bulls officials say that the incident was a result of an accident by its promotional team, the IncrediBulls. One of the members apparently fell down as it was shooting T-shirts into the crowd.

“When the IncrediBull member tripped, the shirts were accidentally launched in the direction of the Celtics, but they did hit the floor first according to what we saw. When it took place we did take steps to apologize to the Celtics’ bench and the referees during the timeout and let them know what happened during that same timeout," said Bulls spokesman Tim Hallam.

The Bulls have watched the incident over video.

Instead of hitting the crowd, the T-shirts hit the Celtics players. When Garnett and Posey turned to look where the shirts came from, all they saw in their vicinity was Bennie.

Bulls officials said they told the game referees what had happened. Then the referees told the Celtics bench the story. However, the Celtics did not buy the tale.

Benny the Bull may comment later today, but says he is innocent of all charges.

However, according to the Bulls officials, Benny does not speak and conduct interviews.
Of course he doesn't conduct interviews, mascots can't speak ... They're silent assassins that way.