NBA Basketball Sports Fan Blog

In 2007 both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined forces with Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics, and what seemed to be a simple move to make their team stronger, the Celtics dramatically changed the NBA.  The Boston Celtics had arguably created the best starting line-up in the NBA, since the 1998 Bulls (remember this includes Rondo and Perkins) and the way they did it was like never before.

Most teams before had one or two strong players, and one of these was generally because one was drafted into the mix, like that of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James in Cleveland, but now a team was able to create its own all-star team, and they made it look easy.  The Boston Celtics went on to win the NBA title that year, and while they didn’t create any sort of legendary dynasty, like the Bulls in the 1990’s, they helped change the way teams went about creating their rosters.

Today we see teams like the Heat with Dwayne wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh, a line-up that is 3/5 the way to an eastern Conference All-Star game, and one that if I mentioned seven years ago, people would of laughed.  As the 2012 NBA Draft nears we see more an more teams then ever before making moves and trades in hope to build their very own “super-team”, whether it be the Nets trying to lure Dwight Howard along side Deron Williams, or the Knicks trying to get Steve Nash to an already failed attempt as a super team.

There is suddenly this perspective that the only way to win an NBA Championship is to create their very own All-Star team, which I feel in a lot of ways kind of ruins the NBA, its now like the ideas of role players is a  distant memory from the past, and realistically there are only a select few teams with that kind of money to create these teams.  Its no longer about a players skill and a teams chemistry like the past, its about what great players you can hopefully throw together and hope for the best.  I don’t even know what the need for a coach is for teams like the Heat, because their isn’t much strategy in “give Lebron the ball”, and if he isn’t open, “give it to Wade”.

Before the season began, this match up would have heavily favored the Thunder. But as the old sports adage goes: that’s why we play the games. This was supposed to be the year that young teams like the Thunder and Heat finally took the reigns from older teams like the Spurs and Celtics. However, it doesn’t look like the old guys are ready to pass the torch quite yet. The Spurs come into the Western Conference Finals riding an 18 game win streak including an 8-0 playoff record. The Thunder also come in hot having lost just one playoff game, but they haven’t looked quite as invincible as the Spurs.

The Thunder are familiar with this situation. Just last year they faced a similar scenario when they squared off against the “supposed to be too old” Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs made easy work of the young Thunder eliminating them in five games before eventually winning the NBA Championship. The Spurs seem likely to follow the same path as the Mavs as they could certainly make quick work of the Thunder before eventually beating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
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Too slow? Too old?

Indeed, the Boston Celtics look like they saved their best this season for when it mattered most.

“I know,” Boston’s Paul Pierce said. “It’s starting to look that way.”

Pierce scored 28 points, Rajon Rondo had 25 and the revived Celtics again avoided a late collapse to take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 95-92 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Boston bullied and bruised its way to a 2-0 series lead on the road against a Magic team that had won 14 straight until this series.

After being hampered by injuries for much of the season, often showing their age, the Celtics are now just two wins away from their second finals appearance in three seasons.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments and ponder their future.

It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll play the Orlando Magic, who are undefeated in the playoffs.

“Winning is gratifying,” Garnett said. “You’re playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don’t have to dress it up. One thing we don’t lack is confidence. We’re a veteran team and we understand when it’s time to lock in as a group. I think we did just that. I think the experience is taking over.”

Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another early offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce understands it’s only natural for some to question whether he’s completely healthy given his offensive struggles against the Cleveland Cavaliers so far this series, but he stressed Monday he’s in good condition and reaffirmed that his production doesn’t matter so long as his team wins.

Averaging 11.8 points per game on 32 percent shooting through four games, Pierce is under the microscope for a dip in his typical offensive production. On Monday, repeating what he said after Game 4, Pierce stressed that his focus in this Eastern Conference semifinal series is more on the defensive end.

“I do whatever I gotta do to help this team win,” said Pierce. “Guarding LeBron [James] is no easy task. He’s the two-time MVP and a lot of their offense goes through him — pretty much all of it. I know I have to focus on that end, more so than the offense. I knew that coming into the series.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers echoed everything Pierce stated, suggesting he’s healthy and doing his part defensively.

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com

The Boston Celtics have a few days off to prepare for the second round of the NBA playoffs and a matchup with LeBron James.

Dwyane Wade has all summer to recruit him.
Ray Allen scored 24 points, making five 3-pointers in the second half to help Boston beat Miami 96-86 on Tuesday night and eliminate the Heat in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The Celtics will play James and the Cavaliers in a seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series that will open Saturday in Cleveland.
“I think it’s a great matchup. It’s great for basketball — such a classic series,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 21 points on Tuesday. “They’re the team to beat right now. They showed it through the course of the season the way they played. We know this is going to be a tough series, another really, really tough series.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

Even without Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat.

Easily.

With the good-humored but hard-playing Glen Davis filling in while the Celtics’ emotional leader served a one-game suspension, Boston rolled to a 106-77 victory Tuesday night that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra called “embarrassing.”

It gave the Celtics a 2-0 lead in their playoff series and Davis a chance to reprise the nickname he hung on himself last year when he replaced the injured Garnett — known as the “Big Ticket” — in all 14 playoff games.
“The ‘Ticket Stub’ came,” Davis said. “Whenever they need the ‘Ticket Stub,’ he’ll be there.”
Davis had 23 points and eight rebounds, and Ray Allen heated up in the third quarter and scored 25 points. Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 29.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Celtics forward Kevin Garnett has been suspended for Game 2 of Boston’s first-round playoff series against the Heat for landing an elbow to the face of Miami’s Quentin Richardson in a fourth-quarter fracas during Game 1 on Saturday.

The announcement was made Sunday by Stu Jackson, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations.

Richardson was fined $25,000 for his role in the altercation.

Garnett earned a double technical and ejection in the melee that unfolded after Paul Pierce tumbled to the ground near the Miami bench with 40 seconds left in Boston’s victory at the TD Garden.

Click here to read the full article – By Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com

Every so often, the scar that runs down Doc Rivers’s right thumb reminds him about the importance of games at the end of the season.

He got the wound on the last day of the 1992-93 season, in a game that was more or less meaningless aside from the fact that the two best teams in the Eastern Conference — his Knicks and Michael Jordan’s Bulls — were playing on national TV.

The Knicks had wrapped up home-court advantage in the playoffs and were sitting on 59 wins. It wasn’t getting to 60 as much as league pressure that led coach Pat Riley to play his regular rotation.

“They basically threatened that back then you had to play,’’ Rivers said. “Everybody had to play. Jordan had to play in the game that was completely meaningless.’’

Click here to read the full article – By Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe

The struggling Boston Celtics just got Kevin Garnett back from injury. They’ll hope he doesn’t trade places with Paul Pierce.

Pierce injured his left foot in the first quarter of Boston’s 99-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Monday. He sat out part of that quarter and all of the fourth even though the win was not certain. The Celtics outscored the Wizards 25-10 without their captain to beat the Wizards.

“I’ll get some X-rays tomorrow, but I think it’s not going to be too bad,” Pierce told reporters after the game, adding that he thought it was a sprain. “I would have known by now [if it was broken]. I think I’ll be all right.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said the injury was nothing serious, but he didn’t want to risk aggravating it by pushing Pierce.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com