Monday, November 28, 2005
83-87 - Too Much Magic Realism
Another ugly one that makes you see how far behind we are the other "developing" teams in the league. Low on talent and heart, the Celtics showed tonight that are learning how to lose, and they have gotten to that point where every game it seems like a matter of time before they break down mentally and fuck up a chance at a victory.
Tonight they laid down like dogs in the fourth quarter, turning the ball over seven times in the last 12 minutes and losing to this only-sorta-good Magic team. Fittingly, the game all but ended when the quasi-resurrected Mark Blount got his shit blocked by a teenager (Dwight Howard) on a play that was an upfake away from tying the game.
The ugliest thing to witness was the de-evolution of the team offense in the fourth quarter to old-school 1 on 5 "I'm going to take over" bullshit from EVERYONE. Delonte, Pierce, Ricky, and even fucking Dan Dickau were trying to do it all on their own. Terrifying.
On the player drama side of things, tonight saw a forgiven Mike Hunt, I mean Mork Blunt, coming off the bench and getting 31 minutes, showing some actual hustle in the first half, and demonstrating his unique court un-awareness getting blocked by Howard. Al played one of his best games of the year, which must be why he got yanked with like six minutes to go and never came back. Justin "Can't" Reed seems to have retaken his lead on Gomes (DNP-CD) on the depth chart. Orien Greene has now gone from DNP land to starting to back to DNP land. Delonte West came back from his hip injury and was solid, but he ain't turning this ship around.
I leave you with these thoughts - the Magic are an organization that over the past three years has traded its franchise player, drafted a teenager, lost a hall of fame talent to chronic injury, traded a star guard for a pussy whipped loser they eventually waived, and relied on big minutes from the likes of Tony Battie, Pat Garrity and Kelvin Kato. Not to mention they are a basketball team that was mostly assembled by a hockey executive. But even with all that, you tell me - who has the brighter future, us or them?
Player of the Game - Tony Battie. Gotta give some love to El Busto and his 8 and 8, even if the night belonged to a well balanced Magic team led mostly by Stevie "Mediocre" Franchise.
Worst Celtic of the Game - Raef LaFrentz. An ugly 1-10 and 3 rebounds, but our man Raef at least looks like he's trying.
Quote of the night - "Not the kind of power move we're used to Mark Blount making." Donny Marshall. We haven't talked much about our former UConn fave Donny "no, Donyell is the good" Marshall and his work in the broadcast booth, but this was one of his few missteps. IMO, the only power move Mark Blount has made all year likely involved the third stall of the men's room at the Waltham practice facility after a night of eating unripened bananas and hot chili.
Tonight they laid down like dogs in the fourth quarter, turning the ball over seven times in the last 12 minutes and losing to this only-sorta-good Magic team. Fittingly, the game all but ended when the quasi-resurrected Mark Blount got his shit blocked by a teenager (Dwight Howard) on a play that was an upfake away from tying the game.
The ugliest thing to witness was the de-evolution of the team offense in the fourth quarter to old-school 1 on 5 "I'm going to take over" bullshit from EVERYONE. Delonte, Pierce, Ricky, and even fucking Dan Dickau were trying to do it all on their own. Terrifying.
On the player drama side of things, tonight saw a forgiven Mike Hunt, I mean Mork Blunt, coming off the bench and getting 31 minutes, showing some actual hustle in the first half, and demonstrating his unique court un-awareness getting blocked by Howard. Al played one of his best games of the year, which must be why he got yanked with like six minutes to go and never came back. Justin "Can't" Reed seems to have retaken his lead on Gomes (DNP-CD) on the depth chart. Orien Greene has now gone from DNP land to starting to back to DNP land. Delonte West came back from his hip injury and was solid, but he ain't turning this ship around.
I leave you with these thoughts - the Magic are an organization that over the past three years has traded its franchise player, drafted a teenager, lost a hall of fame talent to chronic injury, traded a star guard for a pussy whipped loser they eventually waived, and relied on big minutes from the likes of Tony Battie, Pat Garrity and Kelvin Kato. Not to mention they are a basketball team that was mostly assembled by a hockey executive. But even with all that, you tell me - who has the brighter future, us or them?
Player of the Game - Tony Battie. Gotta give some love to El Busto and his 8 and 8, even if the night belonged to a well balanced Magic team led mostly by Stevie "Mediocre" Franchise.
Worst Celtic of the Game - Raef LaFrentz. An ugly 1-10 and 3 rebounds, but our man Raef at least looks like he's trying.
Quote of the night - "Not the kind of power move we're used to Mark Blount making." Donny Marshall. We haven't talked much about our former UConn fave Donny "no, Donyell is the good" Marshall and his work in the broadcast booth, but this was one of his few missteps. IMO, the only power move Mark Blount has made all year likely involved the third stall of the men's room at the Waltham practice facility after a night of eating unripened bananas and hot chili.
# posted by Dr. Chestnutt @ 11:06 PM 
