Preseason: C's vs. Cavs

[bleedgreen]

Dan, Scab and Gomes can definitely shoot BETTER than that ! For whatever reason, they ALL had a bad shooting night. I can assure you that their shooting percentages will improve ! But the one good sign that I like is that THe C's will be CRASHING the boards ! That way they WILL be able to run more and control the tempo of the game............

[eddietours]

we lost the game but the firts unit was on fire hitting at all cylinder even through the bench was off the will shot better as time goes on i like what l see it looks promising.ones al and allen comes back things will take more shape and hopefully gel but ricky may have to go back to the six man roll.

[eja117]

I am planning on writing an indepth report in the next 48 hours however I was pretty darned pleased with everything last nite. My advice to the Celts would be this. Do nothing. Or almost nothing. Pray none of these players ever want to break the bank. Trade away and defer draft picks. Then trade like Banks, Orien Green and as amny draft picks as possible for Oden. Wait 4 years. Collect bout 25 championships.

[eja117]

Dmatts and everyone, go to CNN.com and follow the sports link to si.com and you can get the full box score there

[esco33]

Overall, I was happy with the game last night. Although we did not get the win, (only preseason anyway) I saw some great things last night.

We hopefully have seen the re-emergence of Blount. If he plays that well throughout the whole preseason he should get a lot of minutes, possibly even start. I am starting to think that maybe Big Al may come off the bench for a while with his injury and all. He will add some scoring off the bench if Ricky starts. Then Blount and Raef can start at the 4 and 5. Blount played with great energy, taking it to the basket, and just playing tough. Maybe he can actually start earning his paycheck this year. He definitely has the skills to.

Delonte and Dickau both impressed me. Delonte surprised me with the way that he was able to run the team on the offensive end. This was only one game, but he started looking like an actual point guard. He had some nice passes, especially one nice “give and go” to Raef who mishandled it underneath the basket. He also shot the ball decent.

Dickau as expected looked very comfortable running the team. He shot the ball decent and passed the ball very well. With more minutes, he should rack up some assists either with the first or second unit. (More if he plays more with the first unit though.) The bullet pass down the middle to Pierce was smooth.

Perkins rebounded well. He probably will lead the team in rebound/game this year.

Reed was an animal all over the place on the defensive end. He can be the next Artest at least on the defensive end. He forced some shots on the offensive end. But had some nice post moves over Damon Jones though. He was playing together with Gomes with Gomes at the 3 and him at the 2.

Scalabrini got good looks but was off. Could have easily had 10 or 11 points.

Borchardt and Bynum will both be cut. (Opinion, not fact)

Banks looked ok, but didn’t get in until late.

Pierce looked rejuvenated. He looked like he was having fun.

Raef played ok in the first half, disappeared a little in the second half.

Ricky played great D on Hughes, passed the ball well, and really didn’t look for his shot.

Orien played little. No comment.

Gerald Green played little. Had a decent two-handed dunk on a dish from Banks on a mini fast break.

Overall, first unit was phenomenal, second unit was decent. You can tell obviously Doc is still trying to get his rotations together of who will be on the floor at what time.

He has many combinations of players to choose from.

Celts did lose, but starters were yanked early obviously. (Cavs didn’t have Lebron either).

Saw good things from a lot of players, lots of improvements. Cavs will be a dangerous team, for sure. They are way deeper than last year.

[DERRENMATTS]

Thanks guys for posting your game thoughts. Really helps to have eye witnesses accounts of what went on.

Esco, very indepth insight--much appreciative.

Eja, looking forward to reading what you saw.

[ferbo]

The victory margin last night was at the FT line.

If I recall the box right, Cs had mroe assists (about 20) than the Cavs. Assist level was quite good for first preseason game.

I am surprised about Reed being at the 2. All the talk last year was about him being a "lockdown 3." If he is mobile enough to play D at the 2, his offense will take care of itself.

If the second unit looks something like that (Davis a starter), may be that things would go better with the better-distributing PG with the second unit.

Remember: told you folks not to write Blount off so q uickly.

Perk: NINE REBOUNDS. have to love that.

[DERRENMATTS]

Doc said that he likes the combination of Ryan Gomes and Justin Reed on the floor together with the second unit. IMO, they could become twin brothers--Justin is the defensive brother and Gomes is the offensive brother. Together they form a pretty good combination of offense and defense.

Rivers also stated that Delonte is our best defender among PG's. What about Banks, you say? Rivers says that Marcus is the best pressure defender, but overall defense goes to Delonte because he makes things happen.

[goceltics34]

Everyone's analysis was just about dead on, so i'll throw in my 2 cents.


This team is in desperate need of AL jefferson. He's our only legitmate low post big man. All our other big's are perimeter players. We need his low post skills badly.


Ricky davis MUST come off the bench, the second unit blew a 14 pt lead, they couldnt throw it in the ocean. Davis provides us with the boost we need coming off the bench with his scoring.


Perk- Was discouraged i didnt see much offensive game from him. I love the 9 boards , but he's got to be more of a threat on the offensive end of the floor.

Reed- Will be our ron artest without the antics. Defensive stud, he hustled back 3 times to prevent lay-ups last night, also had 10 points to boot. The man is built like brickhouse.


Banks- I know he's 4th on the depth chart, but i cant see how doc keeps him off the floor. As soon as he stepped on the court his defensive presence was felt. He can create alot from his defense, and constant ball pressure.


Overall i liked what i saw, except from the second team, you cant leave donyell marshall on the 3 pt line uncontested, and luke jackson hit about 3 trey's as well.

CLevland should make the playoffs. Good additions..marshall, hughes, and damon jones.

[DERRENMATTS]

This team is in desperate need of AL jefferson. He's our only legitmate low post big man. All our other big's are perimeter players. We need his low post skills badly.

Totally. Not only is he our best low post scorer, but he's a scorer in general. Having him on the court gives us a better chance of scoring. Plus his rebounding is a big help too.

[/i]Ricky davis MUST come off the bench, the second unit blew a 14 pt lead, they couldnt throw it in the ocean. Davis provides us with the boost we need coming off the bench with his scoring. [/i]

Exactly. Ricky is a big lift off the bench and I hope he gets put into that role again once Tony Allen comes back.

Reed- Will be our ron artest without the antics. Defensive stud, he hustled back 3 times to prevent lay-ups last night, also had 10 points to boot. The man is built like brickhouse.

His offense is just the topping on the cake. Its his defense that will give him a niche. Amazing how he turned from a PF in college into a defensive nightmare against SG's. That's a big transition.

Banks- I know he's 4th on the depth chart, but i cant see how doc keeps him off the floor. As soon as he stepped on the court his defensive presence was felt. He can create alot from his defense, and constant ball pressure.

If Banks is still with the team when season starts, Rivers should use him when he needs a jolt of energy, or a spurt of defensive pressure. Pair up Ricky and Banks together and let them run loose. Banks may not play in more than 10 - 15 minutes a game once everything is settled, but if he can do his damage in those short minutes, that will be big.

[eja117]

Ok I'm exhausted and it's been a while, but if I need a do over I'll take it. This is what I remember from tues nite in no order whatsoever


Dan D made one of the best passes I have ever seen (bullet pass). Looked confident and poised.
D West and DD looked about 100 times better than Banks looked last year, so I am now dropping all defense of Banks. I think at this exact second DD is the better point guard, but that that will change in the next 3-8 months barring injury. D West didn't seem slow to me at all. Have you ever heard the expression "the running back runs scared"? Well D West plays pg scared. But its a good scared. A litle jittery at times, but if he stops making the dumkb decisions and makes more of the smart ones he's going to be pretty good. i don't see why he couldn't be an all star pg in 3 years. Oh yeah. Offense. Well maybe.

Orien Green played so poorly I would have to consider cutting him over Banks or Bynum who didn't play. He made two mistakes a high school sophomore with common sense shouldn't make. One was falling into Luke jackson while trying to stop his shot. Looked real awkward and everything. Another was reaching in on Mengke Bateer ( I thought that guy was dead) in a stupid attempt to make an impossible steal.

Marcus Banks is going to be an excellent third string pg in this league. He hustled, , he got his typical speed steal, put reasonble stats up and just has no clue whatsoever. It's like he thinks he's a 6 ft 1 small forward and that he just happens to guard the other 6 foot player. Doesn't the NBA give intelligence tests like the NFL?

Some of these players aren't necessarily better or worse than eacch other. It's just a matter of preference. Style. D West and DD are just a matter of preference and so is Gomes or Reed. They're both good. That's good for the Celts cause they can put in whoever they need or make adjustments based on who's slumping or whatever.

if Blount plays like that all year we'll have one of the top 14 centers in the league. he hustled. made smart plays. Made tough plays. It was incredible

Raef did disappear in the 2nd half, but I submit to you it was a good disappear. i mean would you rather not think about a player cause he's not making mistakes, or have him show up a lot cause he makes tons. That said I think he's getting less important to us, especially if Scala, Perk, and Blount play well.

Reed showed more offense than i knew he had. He did indeed play at the 2 and didn't do horrible at it. One of the top two hustlers on the team. That said Gomes is no slouch at all on defense or hustle. It's very hard to say who is better, but I think Gomes can be better by next year, but sometimes you just need that player that isn't as good just cause he's the most annoying toughest !!!GREENIAC!!! around. Reed could be that guy.

The Tv show Sex, love, and secrets with Charlie Sheen's ex wife is either awesome, or horrible and no in between. I'm leaning towards awesome since the chicks are HOT. The other show i watched during advertisements was on NOVA about Einstein. The man was a patent clerk and actually realised the constant in the universe was light, not space, or time. Einstein. Will we ever see another?

There has been a Martynas Andriuskevisius sighting. you know how some euros used to go up in the draft for no reason. It looks like they are starting to slide for no reason. This guy was worthy of a 1rst rnd pick. had has stayed in Europe for one more year he would have been top 15. The man can even dribble a little. He's a little awkward, but the idea that hea was a lost young euro way over his head or something is nuts.

Perk had 9 rebs and I saw none. i don't know if that's good or bad. He had one moster block. I noticed when he went over the back. The man was called for border line ticky tack stuff. He either makes some subtle dumb plays or there is an NBA conspiracy against him cause he just picks up whistles all the time for like nothin. It's almost embarrassing. i lean towards thinking he's still making subtle mistakes cause Doc never defends him.

D West absolutely mugged Donyell trying to get a rebound. If he had done that against a young Karl Malone he would never have woken up. Good thing for him Donyell Marshal is a wimp.

Pierce looked happy and good.

Ricky Davis disappeared. Did he even play? maybe he should be the guy that gets traded for Shaun Livingston. In answer to Dmatts other question I'd be willing to put Dan Dickau, Raef, Oriene, and possibly Reed, Ricky and TA on the market fo that. After seeing the crumbs LA got for Shaq, and the insults Toronto got for Vince we ain't gettin nothin for PP

GG looks a little awkward but also like a gazelle. remeber those guys taht you couldn't guarantee would be great but you were 90% sure would be and then they were? Like Kobe? GG is like that. He's not a great defender (got rather easily picked), but he's a willing defender. he took a fade away shot with time running down from the corner with two men in his face and almost made it anyway. Runs ok. belongs.

Imagine an Irishman who has worked in the fields for 6 hours and been at the bar afterwards drinking Guinness for another 5 hours, then he walks out, puts on a uniform and plays for the celts. Scala looks like that. he'll be okay. Maybe a younger, far cheaper, less hurt version of Raef

While D West was guarding some idiot (rivera i think) the guy started doing this weird and very gay kick move. I mean once fine, but 4 times, get a grip. It's just one of those annoying things within the rules. if i had been D West i would have done it back or 'accidentally" run into the leg while it's in the air for a steal. What the hell. You gotta foul to give. Just make it hard. That Rivera player was a hack. banks stole the ball from him and made him look asleep, which he pretty much was. He could never be a Celt

[Celtic17]

Thanks to all of you that posted on what you saw in the game. It makes the boxscore come to life for me. Hope you all have time to do these after more of the games this year.

Thanks again...

[DERRENMATTS]

Awesome Eja. Muchos gracias. We can expect Ricky to come back alive. We can also hope that Scalabrine won't be as bad shooting the ball.

Beware of Blount. I don't mean that its a guarantee he'll slide back to being the non-productive player he was last year. But this guy plays to the level of his mood. If he's feeling good, he'll put up nice numbers. If he's not happy, he'll go back to being the agonizing player to watch. He's looking good now, but just be cautious.

Gerald Green will be a star--a good playet at the very minimum.

Things will change once Jefferson comes back. Every big man gets pushed back a slot to make room for Big Al.

[Lakerhater8]

My game thoughts:

I was NEVER in favor of trading Paul.

And after watching the FIRST pre season game, he was by far our best player. Paul looked slim, happy, and looks like he is ready to prove himself again. We will be a lottery team without him.

Blonut looked very motivated. We all know he can hit the 15 footer. But he was pretty agressive taking it to the basket. It was only one game, but he looked like the pre contract Blonut.

Raef had a good first quarter and then took a nap. No new news here, he will be a big part of our team this year.

Perk was a monster on the boards, but didn't look to be agressive at the offensive end. We don't need him to score, just board and block shots.

Delonte kinda dissapointed me. He got first team minutes, but dind't stick out. SOme will say that is good, but he didn't really create anything for anyone. THe C's got off to a great start, 17-2, but I didn't reatlly see any of that due to Delontes' passing.

THe bench couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. I think they missed 21- of 24 in the 2nd quarter.

Dickau made a nice of the dribble bullet pass to Paul for a layup. He is a better ball handler than Delonte. He missed some open threes, but they just rimmed out, he is a pure shooter. I wouldn't bet on him missing too many of them come regular season. I have been reading that he was beat easlily off of the dribble. I have Tivo, and when I rewound those plays, they came off of pick and rolls and Blonut was letting the opposing PG to roll right by him. Nothing that more practice won't fix.

Gomes was a deer caught in headlights. I really don't worry about him, he will be fine.

Reed, as advertised. Agressive D, missed his first couple of jumpers and then slowed his game down a bit and played a fine game. HE WILL contribute this year.

Banks played agaisnt the scrubs and disrupted anything they wanted to run. I think he will get more minutes next game. I know Dan is starting next game, maybe Marcus will get the majority o fthe backup minutes.

Ortien and Gerald didn't get enough run to show anything. Gerald showed that he could finish with a nice two handed throw down.

I will post on the Raptors game tomorrow.

I won't watch oit live, but will post later on in the evening.

[DERRENMATTS]

Right on, GW. Looking forward to your game review.

As for your thoughts on Delonte, I see your points. As far as being a pure PG, Dickau is closer to being a pure PG than Delonte is. He's a better ball handler and he's probably a better creator. But Delonte has a lot of intangibles that make him unique, and I'm prone to favor guys who have intangibles (which is why I like Ginobli). I've been doing some thinking about our lineup, and I'm now leaning toward starting Dan Dickau over Delonte, simply because he adds more of a scoring punch. I project our everyday lineup to be Raef at C, Jefferson at PF, Pierce at SF, and Tony at SG. With these 4, currently, only Pierce can be counted on to provide points for us at the start of the game. Raef will score when he's open and his outside shots are falling. But he hasn't been a consistent scorer for us because he only takes shots when they are there for him to take. He doesn't look for his shot. Jefferson, in time, will be a big time scorer. But I won't expect him to put up consistent points right now. Same with Tony Allen. Seeing how our starting unit may struggle if the offense is stagnant, having another scorer on the court should help. That's why I'm now looking at Dickau to be the starter.

I'm still a Delonte fan, but at this time, I'm thinking Dickau would pack more of a scoring punch.