2008 Record: 40-42

Playoffs?: Eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the First Round

2008 Record Vs. the Celtics: 1-3

Departures: Kyle Korver, Rodney Carney, Gordon Giricek, Louis Amundsom, Calvin Booth

via file.shanghaidaily.com

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In looking for a link for this post I came across this old (July 15th) Rotoworld.com update that contained the following blurb:

"On Sunday, Elton Brand said he had been assured by Sixers' management that the team would match any offer made to free agent Andre Iguodala."

There's a joke in there somewhere right? Players, management, keeping one's word...But back to Iguodala. I know he got an extra year than Josh Smith, so the money is closer than it initially looks. Still am I way off on this one because I think Smith at the very least worth moderately more money?

Meanwhile, I could not help but think, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" when I read that Walter Herrmann is back in the fold in Detroit. It's bad enough that Herrmann did not travel to Beijing. He shouldn't be a non factor in the NBA as well. There are a few teams out there that would allow him to contribute mightily to fantasy squads like he did back in the spring of '07. Although the man can rock a suit:

via slamonline.com

The Hawks matched the Grizzlies' offer and Josh Smith will remain in Atlanta. Of all the free agents this time around, with the possible exception of Ben Gordon, Smith seems to be the one that took the biggest hit reputation wise. Plenty of people have questioned his attitude and shot selection while wondering if it is wise to give him a ton of guaranteed money. Of course Bandwagon readers know I'm sold on his game. I think he could do a ton of damage on the right team, in the right system, with the right coach...I just don't think the Hawks are that team. That's not to say he'll play poorly or the Hawks will be bad. I'm just not convinced the organization has put its dysfunctional ways behind it. Four closing points:

1. Get Sekou Smith's take on the deal. The deal is a bargain compared to what Okafor and Deng got.

2. They Hawks didn't really expect to get him at an average of $9 million a year did they?

3. Smith is 28 in the final year of the deal, which means he'll get one more monster contract if everything goes according to planned. That's why guys who can play want to get into the league as soon as possible.

4. Enjoy:

Josh Smith Top 10 Plays of 2007-08 Season (via atljsmoove5)

In the lead up to Boston and Atlanta's first round match up I wrote the following about Josh Childress:

"Josh Childress is one of those guys that catches me off guard in the sense that he's playing in his 4th NBA season. I did not see that coming. He is athletic, a solid foul shooter (79% on his career), capable of playing disruptive defense and gets bonus points for rocking the Afro. While his numbers are down from the career highs he set in points, rebounds and assists last season, that may be due to Childress averaging 7 minutes less per game. Also his field goal percentage this season (57.2%) is outrageous for a guard/forward combo. Furthermore, Childress has averaged a respectable 11.1 points per game over the course of his career. Still would you take him over Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson, teammate Josh Smith and Kevin Martin? The Hawks did."

While he was not lights out in round 1, I thought Childress played well. On top of that he did it with a dysfunctional organization that can't decide whether or not to fire its coach. Moreover the Hawks love power forwards and athletic swing men far more than point guards. Long story short there are some teams out there that would benefit from having Childress in the rotation. In fact the Spurs come to mind. He could do some damage and fill some of their holes. But therein lies the problem. The Spurs would never give him as much money as the Greeks did. Less games, more money, nice climate. What's not to like? Good for him.

Of course Childress' move grabbed headlines in the US and may have started a trend - Carl Landry may be next. I can't stress enough how diverse reactions have been thus far. Just compare recent posts by Kelly Dwyer and Red's Army. I tend to agree with the former. In fact the whole episode reminds me of Thomas L. Friedman's best seller and makes for some great debates. Yet all of the sudden international expansion of the NBA does not seem so bad to me. And this is coming from a guy who wrote this (sorry Eastern Europe) not too long ago. Once again there is a reason David Stern is a millionaire and I'm, well I'm me. Meanwhile, for the time being it is now more important than ever for NBA teams to learn from some of the awful contracts* out there and avoid such egregious mistakes in the future. Seriously look at what Steve Francis makes.

* Not all of those contracts are awful. Just some.

Just as I was about to go to bed I went over to NBA.com to find out about the new Celtics championship DVD. I'm not even trying to be obnoxious right now. And BOOM the Clippers acquired Marcus Camby. The running joke will definitely be that one of the worst defensive teams in the league just went and traded the one guy that actually played defense. And citizen zhiv over at Clips Nation is on board with the deal. I have a few reactions of my own.

1. Talk about a crazy summer in LA. First Baron Davis unexpectedly signed there. Then Elton Brand unexpectedly bolted. And then the Clips unexpectedly avoided the restricted free agent (Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor) route by landing Camby for a second round pick. A second round pick? That's excellent. On top of that Camby is on a 2-year deal that runs out in that much talked about summer of 2010. Seriously look at the guys who lack restrictions that summer. LeBron, Bosh, Wade, and more. That makes me the 1,000,000th person to bring this up...today

2. I had to jump into the archives for a Q&A (I hate typing that) I did with Jeremy from Pickaxe and Roll back in February. Let's just say Jeremy is not a huge Camby guy:

"I found the calls for Camby to make the All-Star team laughable.  Camby is great at what he does, but he is an atrocious offensive player.  He has no post game.  Earlier in the season Golden State was guarding him with Mickael Pietrus.  Any self respecting center would take that 6' 6" defender in the post and light him up.  Camby never even gave it a thought.  The only thing Camby is good at on offense is driving to the basket with his right hand.

Defensively he is incredibly overrated.  Yes, he is a great weak side shot blocker and he is a very good rebounder.  He has tremendous instincts.  He cannot guard players of any significance in the post because of his frail frame and he never tries to step out and stop the ball handler in a screen and roll situation because he wants to sit back and try to block shots.  The result is an endless string of open fifteen footers or driving lanes through the paint.

In the last game before the all star break against Orlando Camby had to sit out most of the fourth quarter because he could not guard Dwight Howard inside not could he guard Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu on the perimeter.

Camby is very good for the Nuggets because they have Kenyon Martin and sometimes Nene to guard the big post scorers of the NBA, but if Camby had to guard every post scorer on his own, he would never, ever be in consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year."

Other Blogs to Check Out:

ClipperBlog
Nugg Doctor

The Celtics came out of the half up 58-43. After close to 2 minutes of scoreless ball Paul Pierce put the C’s up 17 with a driving lay up. Marvin Williams responded with a jumper. That was followed by a steal and a Mike Bibby 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 12. On the opposite end Rajon Rondo missed a lay up but the Hawks could not capitalize due to a Marvin Williams travel. Unfortunately Joe Johnson picked off a lazy Pierce lob, drove the distance and earned a trip to the line where he connected on both freebies. Ray Allen and Marvin Williams traded missed jumpers before KG missed a fall away from close range. Rondo stole the rebound, made the curious decision to dribble the shot clock down to 6 and missed a floater in the paint. At this point Tommy Heinsohn openly called for a timeout. After another Hawks turnover Doc Rivers agreed.

Coming out of the timeout the Celtics’ lead was down to 10 (60-50) with 7:30 to go in the third. Boston’s offense was once again void of ball movement, missed shots from close range were piling up and I was thinking about the last two games. I’d lost my confidence in the C’s. All of the sudden the squad that won 66 regular season games, swept the Texas triangle and never got blown out seemed incredibly vulnerable. Boston only added to my concern by turning the ball over right out of the timeout. Josh Smith responded with a Kevin McHale like up and under for a lay up. Meanwhile, Smith’s old high school teammate (Rondo) missed a lay up on the other end. Al Horford capitalized with a jumper to pull the Hawks within 6 (60-54) with 6:15 to play in the third quarter. At this point the crowd was far from silent. Rather there was a mixture of artificial noise and a tentative "Let’s Go Celtics" chant. I for one was panicking in a big way. Yet Rondo walked the ball down the court and immediately threw it down low to KG. He backed down Smith, turned away from a double and nailed a HUGE basket. On the heels of that the C’s responded with a phenomenal defensive possession that ended with an air ball from Smith. Back on offense KG blew by Smith and found Ray Allen in the corner for a three pointer and an 11-point lead. From there on things snowballed out of control for Atlanta. Smith missed yet another shot and Pierce drove for a lay up. Horford and Kendrick Perkins traded dunks before another phenomenal defensive possession that included KG sending Josh Childress’ shot into the stands and the Hawks settling for a jumper by Horford well beyond his range. Needless to say it did not go down. Ray Allen hit yet another 3, which gave Boston a 16-point lead (72-56) with 3:30 to play in the third. From there the C’s eventually pulled away to a 25 point victory. Not even a couple of questionable blocking fouls on Pierce, particularly the second one, and a heated exchange between KG and Johnson that led to a technical foul for each could derail the Celtics.

It’s funny that I wrote a post chronicling a difficult stretch for Garnett in game 4 when he finished that contest with 20 points, 9 rebounds and a ridiculous 6 steals. Funny ironic. Not funny haha. Flash forward to game 5 and KG finished with yet another solid stat line – 20 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, 3 blocks and only 1 turnover. However, this time around Ray Allen hit some timely three pointers and Pierce pulled off a spirit breaking/"how the hell did he make that lay up?" three point play. Still there is no denying that KG’s bucket to push the lead back to 8 was a turning point. Boston needed someone to step up and Garnett did. And yet on the next possession he continued to play his game by making the right pass to an open Ray Allen for one of those aforementioned timely three pointers. KG is what he is – a phenomenal athlete, defender and team player with a reputation as one of, if not the, greatest second bananas of all time. Maybe I’m a biased homer. But I envision a scenario where he kills that perception once and for all.

I was so disappointed in this loss that I couldn’t even blog about it last night. Some things that stood out:

Joe Johnson was begging someone to play the Larry Bird to his Dominique Wilkins. And nobody did. There were several possessions were Boston needed a bucket to crush some momentum and keep the crowd out of it. To be fair Ray Allen’s three pointer around the 9:00 minute mark, which gave the C's a 78-72 lead was that type of shot. But they needed many more. Paul Pierce couldn’t hit a bucket to set up a and one situation just inside 8 minutes and then went 1-2 from the line. Josh Smith blocked a KG drive at the one point. And on and on.

KG had a tough sequence last night that will bring his critics come out of the woodwork.

-  8:08: He missed a straight on jump shot from about two feet inside the three point line

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Someone forwarded me a story today about how Atlanta will end Boston's drive for a title. I just don't see it. Instead I envision the Celtics coming up big this evening and driving a dagger through the Hawks' playoff hopes. Maybe that's just me. And I do think the Celtics have a lot more composure than The Blue Workhorse argues in the post I linked to above and quoted below:

"The increased level of physicality and verbal spewing being tossed back and forth is what I believe could ultimately lead to the Celtics demise this postseason. No, I don’t think the Hawks have uncovered some secret gameplan to beating Boston, but by Game 5 (or Game 6, if the Hawks win another game), I do envision there being some sort of altercation that could alter the remainder of the playoffs.

Despite all of his emotional outbursts, I don’t think it will be Garnett that is initially involved or Ray Allen, but Pierce, second year point man Rajon Rondo, or veteran Sam Cassell could each be potential key cogs that are lost for a number of games due to losing their temper.

Pierce was the target of the previously mentioned hard foul in Game 2, and he has been the target of some jawing, including Horford’s words in the above video. Rondo came close to getting a technical in Game 3 after receiving a offensive foul, and he has exchanged words with Bibby. Cassell is another emotional player with trash talking a common element of his repertoire.

Instigating the confrontation will likely be one of either Bibby or Smith because of their talking, Horford because of his antics, or big man Zaza Pachulia because of his constant bickering at officials and opposing players. The way this series is playing out one of these players is going to start something that could result in the suspension of players pertinent to Boston having a successful playoff run."

I really don't see Rajon Rondo getting thrown out. James Posey maybe. But that might be part of the reason he's here. Go Celtics.

First I want to recognize that the Boston Celtics are better than the Atlanta Hawks. In fact I’ve even come up with the Top Ten Reasons why:

10. Boston has a lot more guys that know and accept their roles. For example James Posey knows what is expected of him and what he is capable of doing. Meanwhile, Marvin Williams is still trying to figure out his ceiling as a player. Winning can take a back seat when guys are still obsessed with contracts, endorsements and making a name for themselves. Along those same lines Josh Smith and Coach Mike Woodson frequently get into arguments on the sidelines. I’m convinced that is not good for the Atlanta Hawks.

9. Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge are on the same page. The same can not be said for Billy Knight and Mike Woodson. Yes all of the winning influenced Rivers' decision-making. But he also had the luxury to play Tony Allen as much as he could, let Rajon Rondo be the starter from day one, develop Leon Powe and so on, because his job was safe. Contrast that with Woodson who was desperate to make the playoffs to either save his job or improve his resume. I recognize that this comparison is not fair because the teams were under entirely different circumstances. But Woodson could not worry about Salim Stoudamire’s development. That counts for something.

8. Regular season records. Boston: 66-16. Atlanta: 37-45. At some point you are what you are. 

7. The Celtics are one of two teams that beat every team in the NBA this season.

6. Head to head match up. Boston 5, Atlanta 1.

5. Doc Rivers and company are better coaches than Mike Woodson’s gang.

4. The C’s are deeper.

3. The Celtics, Saturday night notwithstanding, move the ball far better on offense.

2. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have so much on the line from a legacy standpoint that I can’t imagine them letting this opportunity slip away in the first round.

1. Boston’s defense was historically good this season. Atlanta's was not.

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Game 3

- Back in the day I watched wrestling from time to time. And every now and then a "favored" wrestler would absolutely get destroyed. And yet I would think he was going to pull it out until the very end. But at every turn something bad happened. Powder in the eyes. Ref knocked out. Chair shot from the opposing manager. A ridiculous counter move. You get the point. Well Saturday's game felt a lot like that. I'm not saying the Hawks did not play well. They most certainly did by rebounding, running and shooting the lights out. But all of the missed shots by the C's, the selfish play, the inability to get stops at key times, the questionable offensive foul call on Rajon Rondo late in the fourth (real momentum killer) and of course Atlanta playing well, were too much for the Celtics to overcome.

- I rarely if ever blame the referees and I'm certainly not going to do that now. In fact at times Boston benefits from getting away with bullying and physical play. However, Bennett Salvatore and Violet Palmer, who both called the game, are on the list of officials that make me nervous. Joey Crawford and Ken Mauer are there too.

- Man Josh Smith was all over the place. The guy can flat out play. I wasn't happy to see him lead the Hawks to victory. But I did feel somewhat vindicated for all of the positive press I've given him. For the record I prefer Celtics victories to vindication. And I don't think Smith can shoot that well from deep again. But he will dunk all night long if you let him.

- I don't understand the argument that Al Horford and company should be careful about talking so much trash. Why? They needed to something after the beat downs with complimentary verbal abuse they received in Boston. I'm not calling out either team. It's playoff basketball. But would you let Kevin Garnett swear at you for 30+ minutes and not say a word? Meanwhile, I like to think that Paul Pierce will have a big game tomorrow because he's Paul Pierce and it is the playoffs. Does he really need Horford to motivate him?

- Sam Cassell's shoot first, second and third strategy works well when he hit shots. Otherwise it is disastrous.

- I know Eddie House has been disappointed about his playing time. I was disappointed by him passing up open shots. He's paid to have no conscience on offense.

- Overall it was the ultimate "can't get over the hump" kind of game. Hats off to the Hawks.