News 11/17

new

« Prev
1
Next »

FLCeltsFan
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rabid Celtics Fan

Perk is a Beast

Posts: 25,622

News 11/17 Nov 17, 2008 7:34:44 GMT -5

Quote

Post by FLCeltsFan on Nov 17, 2008 7:34:44 GMT -5

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1132872&format=text
Brian Scalabrine jumps at an active role

By Mark Murphy / Celtics Notebook | Monday, November 17, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by Matt Stone
No one has been forced to work on his patience more during the last 13 months than Brian Scalabrine.

Generally relegated to an inactive role during last season’s run to the NBA title, the veteran Celtics [team stats] forward found himself in essentially the same role during the first 10 games this season.

But with James Posey now on the New Orleans Hornets, there are times when coach Doc Rivers finds the small forward rotation thin behind Paul Pierce [stats]. Though in most eyes Scalabrine is more of a perimeter-shooting power forward than anyone’s idea of a so-called “3” that is indeed the spot where Rivers likes to play him.

And when Pierce fell into quick foul trouble during Saturday’s overtime win in Milwaukee, Scalabrine was sent out to cover his old New Jersey teammate, Richard Jefferson.

The result was season highs in everything from scoring (five points) to minutes (13). Scalabrine even buried his first 3-pointer of the season on his way to being part of the solution in perhaps the most difficult win of the early season.

“Scal was phenomenal,” said Rivers, who gave the team a much-needed day off yesterday. “He gave us great minutes. He’s an irritant when he guards people out there. He just plays terrific team basketball.”

He was also on the floor during overtime - perhaps the best measure of how well he fit in.

“I haven’t been in a situation like that in a while,” he said. “But the key was keeping my composure. I just try to be solid.”

Part of Scalabrine’s sharpness despite long stretches on the bench can be traced to his pregame ritual of playing one-on-one games with Sam Cassell.

“Other coaches can run plays at me all they want, but Doc trusts me on the defensive end,” Scalabrine said. “Working against Sam has really helped me. There’s nothing better. If you want to get better at basketball, there’s nothing like playing one-on-one.”

After the team’s recent grueling stretch - with the Celtics going 7-1 over the course of 12 days - Rivers will be looking to use Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen more sparingly during the coming weeks.

That could signal Scalabrine’s return to more playing time.

“Paul has been playing a lot of minutes,” said Scalabrine. “We have to play off the three guys we have who are our stars.”

Take a shot

Much to Rivers’ consternation, Rajon Rondo [stats] is once again passing up open jump shots - a throwback to when teams dared the point guard to shoot during the playoffs. Rivers said Rondo’s reluctance to shoot has to change.

“I didn’t know he was shooting at all,” Rivers said, somewhat facetiously. “I’d like him to shoot. Right now he’s open under the basket. Like I tell them all every day, you have to put your work in in the gym. He can’t run from open shots. They’re giving it to him more this year so far - like they did in the playoffs.

“Now they’re letting him roam around the floor. Rondo can score, and he has to remember that.”

Up in arms

Garnett and the Bucks’ Andrew Bogut had to be separated when the latter caught the former in the mouth with a flailing hand. KG actually committed a foul on the play, though they were whistled for a double-technical that signaled Bogut’s exit.

Rivers laughed at the perception the two even had to be separated.

“That was just two guys who didn’t want to fight talking to each other,” Rivers said.

FLCeltsFan
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rabid Celtics Fan

Perk is a Beast

Posts: 25,622

News 11/17 Nov 17, 2008 7:42:45 GMT -5

Quote

Post by FLCeltsFan on Nov 17, 2008 7:42:45 GMT -5

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/11/17/no_chants_for_success?mode=PF
No chants for success
Scalabrine seeks to quiet backers
By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | November 17, 2008

With 45 seconds left and the Denver Nuggets ahead by 10 in the Celtics' first home loss of the season Friday night, some fans at TD Banknorth Garden began chanting "SCAL-A-BRIN-E" for a player on the bench who didn't get in. While the chants were flattering to forward Brian Scalabrine when he first heard them when he played for New Jersey, he would rather the Celtics fans cheer for the team than him individually.

"We are in Boston," Scalabrine said recently. "It detracts from the focus. We are the Boston Celtics, and for the crowd to cheer for an individual takes away from our team and what we are trying to do. Let's just say it's not ubuntu [the South African word meaning unity].

"The way I see it, it takes away from what the Boston Celtics are trying to do, the focus that we have as a team, and how as a team we don't believe in any individualism. We believe in being as a team."

Yet Scalabrine did give fans a reason to shout in the Celtics' 102-97 overtime win in Milwaukee Saturday night. With Paul Pierce in foul trouble early, Scalabrine entered in the first quarter and played solidly, scoring 5 points on 2-of-2 shooting, nailing his first 3-pointer of the season, and having one assist, one turnover, and three fouls in 13 minutes. Scalabrine also played in OT after Kevin Garnett fouled out.

Coach Doc Rivers, who gave the team yesterday off, thought Scalabrine's play went beyond the box score. "Scal is an irritant," Rivers said. "He gets into people's skin. He plays so hard. He just plays team basketball. Nothing is going to stand out with his numbers, with his play, except to coaches. You love him because he does everything to win the game."

Scalabrine had not played in the previous four games before notching season highs for points and minutes Saturday. The eighth-year forward hadn't played crucial minutes in a while and said "the key is to keep your composure."

"I'm not thinking about it from an individual perspective," he said. "I'm just thinking [that] you've got to keep your composure. And if you go out there and get an open shot, knock it down.

"It was good. Paul has been logging a lot of minutes so Doc wanted to spell him early. I got to go in early, which I liked. I just tried to play real solid out there, just identify that [Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen] are our stars and we have to play off of them."

Rivers has said that the chanting of Scalabrine's name by the home fans seems to make him tentative offensively.

"It makes it hard on him because there is a weight when people start chanting his name," Allen said. "You are more conscious to go out and make the right play."

Allen said he recently asked Scalabrine when the chanting began. It started during the 2001-02 season when he was a rookie with the Nets. With Scalabrine's role and production increasing in each of his four seasons with New Jersey, the chants seemed to have merit back then.

The Celtics signed Scalabrine to a five-year deal worth $15 million in 2005 after he averaged 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds for the Nets during the 2004-05 season. After playing in 71 and 54 games in his first two seasons with Boston, the 6-foot-9-inch, 235-pounder averaged a career-low 1.8 points last season, playing in just 48 games, the fewest since his rookie season.

Scalabrine also has played sparingly this season, which adds a level of complication to the late-game chants. "More times than not I've gone home and thought about how it's a more mentally challenging way to play basketball than I'm up for," Scalabrine said. "You feel uncomfortable while you're out there playing when all these people are out there chanting. From a mental side . . . you have to get over that and try to be successful while they're doing that."

And Scalabrine agreed that the fans' enthusiasm has made him tentative offensively.

"When there is so much focus on the individual, it makes you want to refocus on the team," Scalabrine said. "You can chant all you want, but I'm still going to pass to the right guy and I'm still going to play basketball the same way. It's not going to change the way I play. It's going to make me more focused on the team."

Allen believes the best way to silence the chanting is for Scalabrine to score a couple of quick baskets, but he knows that is difficult for a reserve forward who is often coming in cold.

"It's tough on him because there is a spotlight placed on him," said Allen. "He feels as though he has to go out there and play good."

FLCeltsFan
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rabid Celtics Fan

Perk is a Beast

Posts: 25,622

News 11/17 Nov 17, 2008 7:49:12 GMT -5

Quote

Post by FLCeltsFan on Nov 17, 2008 7:49:12 GMT -5

www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/pros_and_colleges/x1013044576/Courtside-View-Superman-has-some-sidekicks
Courtside View: Superman has some sidekicks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Souza/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Nov 16, 2008 @ 12:54 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Garnett said it twice this week. It was Superman time. Paul Pierce went into the phone booth and transformed into the guy who couldn't miss. The guy who needed to have the ball.

In the NBA, it happens. There is so much individual talent on the floor that when a guy's got it going on, you get it to him time after time after time.

In a grander scheme, however, Boston's offensive success has been built more on the complementary than the solitary. Though defense is the overriding focus, the offense has thrived on the way each of the team's components opens the floor for others - how the outside shooting of Ray Allen and Eddie House can open the middle for Kevin Garnett in the post and for Pierce to drive, how Garnett and Pierce drawing defenses in the lane can open Kendrick Perkins for the easy jam, how Rajon Rondo's penetration can leave Allen and Pierce alone behind the arc.

Pierce has had most of the same skills throughout his career, but before the team's transformation two summers ago, he seldom went into the booth and emerged as Superman. He usually went into the lane and got trapped.

"I think this is such a great situation to be in now," Allen said this week, "because in my teams past, you think you are going to get a good shot off. Now, I think more that I am going to get somebody a good shot off. As a team, we are going to get a good shot off because the other team is going to try to take away whatever options you're running and we have a lot of options."

In two games this week, the primary option - especially in the fourth quarter - was Pierce as he led the Celtics to back-to-back comebacks over the Raptors and Hawks. On Friday, despite the loss to the Nuggets, the best second-half options were Allen (26 points, 5 3-pointers) and Eddie House (13 points) because Denver was trending so much toward Pierce and Garnett. The Celtics might not exploit the situation well enough to win the game every time, but recognizing it is a stressed objective.

"I remember (Wednesday) night, when Tony (Allen) got the ball at the end of the half," Ray Allen said, "and he wound up missing a 3. I said, 'Tony, you've got to remember that we've got so many options out there and so many guys are wide open. You don't have to take that shot.'

"For myself, for (Leon) Powe, for Tony, for Rondo, for Paul, for Kevin, there are so many options out there. You never really have to take it upon yourself. We all take tough shots, but there is so much available out there, there is always somebody open."

Pierce said he tries to keep that in mind even when he is locked in the way he was the first two games of this week.

"I try to play within the flow of the offense," he assured. "I don't want to take away from anyone else's abilities. I know what I'm capable of, and also that we need each other to win."

Examples were plentiful during last year's playoff run and early this season. Despite all of his trouble getting off shots in the Eastern Conference semis against the Cavs, Ray Allen's presence on the floor was still critical to the offense. His was someone Cleveland knew it wanted to lock down on the perimeter, and that opened up the middle for Pierce to attack the basket. The reason Doc Rivers sometimes goes with Eddie House over Rondo at point guard late in games isn't necessarily to get House shots, it's to force teams to either leave an open House or leave Garnett with more room to operate without the sagging defender in the paint.

For it to work, everyone must play his part. That's why when Rondo bricks or turns down wide-open jump shots - as he has done with unnerving frequency in recent games - the offensive structure breaks down. It's based on total concert.

"I know where Paul is when I have the ball at all times and I know where Kevin is," Ray Allen said. "I know where everybody is. When I have the ball, I know where Rondo cuts in the corner, I know where Kevin is, know where Paul is. When I drive, it's almost like one of those computer models where you know where everything is on the keyboard, it's just a matter of you getting to it. It's an awareness I try to have when I'm out there.

"Once I drive, I am leaving a guy behind me ... and then there's some help coming. If there's help coming, somebody has got to be open."

Sometimes, that's Superman, and he comes to save the day. But if an opponent gets caught going for its Kryptonite too often, there are plenty of other powerful characters on the scene to save it in his place.

"If Paul has a hot hand, or Kevin has a hot hand, you've really got to know where they are," Allen said. "But there are so many great options out there we can do it a lot of different ways."

FLCeltsFan
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rabid Celtics Fan

Perk is a Beast

Posts: 25,622

News 11/17 Nov 17, 2008 9:34:31 GMT -5

Quote

Post by FLCeltsFan on Nov 17, 2008 9:34:31 GMT -5

www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081117/SPORTS/811170348
Hero worship worthy for Pierce of late
November 17, 2008 6:00 AM
Paul Pierce is already "The Truth," a nickname given to him by Shaquille O'Neal. But he may be stealing away one of Shaq's own monikers, as he's quickly becoming Boston's Superman.

Pierce didn't exactly get off to a hot start this season. The reigning Finals MVP only scored 20 or more points twice in the first six games of the season, hitting rock-bottom last Sunday night when he mustered just seven in a win over Detroit. So by Monday night's home game against the Raptors, he was tired of being mild-mannered Paul Pierce, as he was through most of the first half.

He stepped into the phone booth, made a quick change, and emerged scoring 22 points in the fourth quarter to power the Celts over Toronto.

"I love when Superman goes in the booth and transforms. I love it," Kevin Garnett said after the game.

The heroic effort was something his teammates saw in the works.

"Paul is such a great scorer," head coach Doc Rivers said. "The average player misses shots and he shuts off. The great players miss a shot and he starts thinking the odds are on his side. That's what makes him great."

"We knew he was capable of going off at any moment, and I seen it in his eyes," Leon Powe said. "He wanted the ball, he wanted to take over, he wanted to be that guy ... He's one of the greatest players in the league, and when he's going like that, there ain't too many people that can stop him."

But just as Superman often does, Pierce played it off with an 'aw shucks, ma'am, just doin' my job' affability.

"I just took advantage of opportunities," he said. "I've been in sort of a slump lately, and hopefully with a game like this, I can start playing a little bit better."

Actually, it was almost like 'ol Supes gaining more power from Earth's yellow sun, as he appeared to just get better each game.

In the next game, Pierce scored 34 points, including a fadeaway game-winner over Al Horford — his first game-winner since Dec. 6, 2006. At the last moment, the hero swooped in and saved the day.

"The last play was drawn up, get the ball to Paul Pierce, get the hell out of the way. Superman's in the booth. Let's go home," Garnett said. "That was the play, and if you don't believe that, ask Doc Rivers and he'll say the same exact thing."

He scored just 19 on Friday night, as Denver apparently had nuggets of kryptonite tucked under their jerseys. But then Pierce added to his growing reputation with a key 3-pointer on a second-chance shot late in overtime over Milwaukee on Saturday night, once again sparking a Celtics victory. He finished with 28 points, giving him an average of 23.4 points per game over the past five games, when he started the season at a 16.3 points-per-game clip over the first seven.

To put it in even more super-perspective, Pierce scored more points this week (117) than he did in almost the first two weeks of the season combined (114).

And the superhero mythos is spreading in the Celtics' locker room.

"Man, he's got a cape on his back sometimes," Eddie House said. "It's been the Paul Pierce show (recently) in the fourth quarter. I'm glad he's on my team."

With apologies to Dwight Howard, who not only took over Shaq's spot as Superman but did it in his Orlando stomping grounds, it's hard to argue with those who want to compare Pierce's recent performance with the prowess of the Last Son of Krypton.

NETTING A JOB?
The Nets have come with an innovative way to not only get fans into a game, but keep them able to afford tickets in the future.

They announced Wednesday that they are providing 1,500 tickets free of charge to unemployed fans who submit resumes to the team. In turn, the Nets will forward on the resumes to their 120 corporate sponsors and the hundreds of firms that own season tickets.

"Our belief right now is, 'let's invest in people who might invest in us later,'" Nets exec Brett Yormark told the AP. "In doing so, we can help people who need it most."

While the Nets are not guaranteeing job placement, the new initiative will get resumes in front of the right peoples' eyes. Not a bad reward for having to sit through a Nets game, right?

Tim Weisberg covers the NBA for The Standard-Times. Contact him at timweisberg@hotmail.com

HOT
ROOKIE BURN

Celtics rookie J.R. Giddens has been sent to the NBDL, we'll he'll suit up for the Utah Flash. Since he was just sitting on the bench and not getting much game experience at the NBA level, the move will be good for him, just as it was for Gabe Pruitt a year ago.

ODEN ON THE FLOOR

Now recovered from his foot injury, Greg Oden has now played three almost-full NBA games. In 16 minutes against Miami, he had three points, two boards and two blocks. He then put up 11, 11 and four in 24 against the Hornets (going 3-for-3 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line) and 13, eight and three in 24 against the T-Wolves.

THE OTHER MANILOW

LeBron James told reporters he has "all kinds" of music on his iPod. When asked about Barry Manilow, he searched the device and then said, "No Brian Manilow." When corrected, he said "Oh, Barry. I was talking about his cousin." Once searching for the correct Manilow, LBJ found "Mandy," "Copacabana" and "I Am Your Child."

NOT

KING OF CRITICISM

The NBA fined Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus $25,000 for comments he made about the officiating in a loss to Detroit, saying it was "ridiculous" that the Pistons had 36 foul shouts and the Kings just 17. That's more emotion than he showed in his stint as the coach on NBC's "Hang Time."

K-MART FINED

Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin was fined $20,000 by the league for screaming obscenities at referee Joey Crawford and not leaving the court in a timely manner following his ejection Thursday from a game against the Cavaliers. Doesn't he remember Crawford likes to fight? Just ask Tim Duncan.

INCONSISTENT PUNISHMENT

Houston's Rafer Alston and Phoenix' Matt Barnes were each suspended for two games for their part in Wednesday's confrontation between the two teams "” the Suns' Steve Nash got one game, with center Shaquille O'Neal getting a $35,000 fine and Houston's Tracy McGrady fined $25,000. The only problem? Alston threw two punches at Nash, while Barnes was merely shoving. "What they're saying is you might as well throw two punches because you're getting the same suspension," Barnes told reporters.

FLCeltsFan
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rabid Celtics Fan

Perk is a Beast

Posts: 25,622

News 11/17 Nov 17, 2008 9:50:30 GMT -5

Quote