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Recap: All Gasol All The Time

KWAPT (@KWAPT) November 21, 2014 Gametime, Recaps 16 Comments

Tonight’s game vs the Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum started off exactly as we thought it would. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph ~~had their way~~ feasted in the paint, and Mike Conley picked apart a porous C’s defense. Memphis shot 52% in the first quarter, while Boston couldn’t break 20 points. It was 25-16 after one. 14 of Memphis’ first quarter points came in the painted area. It appeared we were in for a long night.

Boston actually showed some resilience in the second quarter. Marcus Thornton gave the C’s a much needed boost off the bench, putting in 7 points in 8+ minutes, and the Celts were within four, 31-27 with 8:32 left in the first half. But Memphis quelled Boston’s uprising almost immediately. However it wasn’t Randolph or Gasol this time-Jon Leuer, *sigh* yes Jon Leuer, sparked a Memphis run and the Grizz were up double-digits at halftime, 55-41. Tayshuan Prince drilled a long trey at the buzzer to add insult to injury.

Things went from bad to worse for Boston in quarter number three. Despite coming out with some good energy early on, the Grizz matched it, and went on a tear. Marc Gasol was simply unstoppable. The Grizz’ big man racked up 9 points in about 3 minutes, and Boston was down big again. It was 70-55 with 6:13 to go in the 3rd. Despite a huge quarter from Kelly Olynyk (14 points) the C’s headed into the final frame down 82-70.

The 4th was filled with more bad defense and more Jon Leuer. Leuer had 9 fourth quarter points & shredded a C’s defense that was paltry at best. Grizz never trailed tonight, and go on to win 117-100. The C’s were simply no match for a very talented & deep Memphis squad. Gasol (season-high 32 pts) & Randolph (16 pts & 14 rebs) took full advantage of their huge edge in the front court. Give the Grizz credit. They simply did not “play down” to Boston, and played extremely well on both ends of the floor. And they did it with some of their key contributors out.

Boston now heads back home for a three game homestand that extends past Thanksgiving into December. Portland is up first on Sunday at 6pm EST.

The Green:

Kelly Olynyk had 18 points, 14 of them coming in the 3rd.
Sully had a decent line of 13 pts, 6 rebs, 3 blks, 1 ast & 1 stl.
Evan Turner & Marcus Thornton combined for 21 points off the bench

The Gross:

Celtics gave up 66 points in the paint.
The defense, the defense, the defense:

The Greenlights:

Kelly doing his Dirk imitation

Bass nice and one

The Grid: (quick stats)
- Celtics shot 9 of 27 (33%) from downtown
- Rondo logged 28 minutes and had a quiet 4 pts, 4 asts & 5 rebs
- Rebounds: MEM 50 BOS 38
- Turnovers: MEM 14 BOS 12
Box score

CoolRapQuote

The only human being on Earth who will even remember this game a month from now is Bill Simmons. In other words, NEEEEEEXXXXXTTT.

On a side note, tonight’s Cavs at Wizards game showed that Paul Pierce is a huge part of what The Wizards are doing this year. John Wall said during the post game interview that “Paul is a great leader.” I love the Pierce LeBron rivalry, and I’m so glad that it keeps dragging on even after I thought it was just about dead after the 2011 eastern conference semis. five of Pierces last 7 seasons have resulted in a LeBron Pierce play off match up and each time, the team that advanced went on to play in the nba finals. Thats a pretty #coolstorybro if you ask me.
- swissflix
  
  The conference finals in 2012 were awesome, mind you. Paulie with the dagger in game 5.
  - CoolRapQuote
    
    Objectively speaking, yes, they were awesome. That Pierce 3 in lebrons face was a top five basketball moment for me(and I bet many others feel the same). But the way it ended was personally the hardest I’ve ever taken a loss. The 2010 finals didn’t even hurt that bad.
    - Guest
      
      “The 2010 Finals didn’t even hurt that bad.” Say what?
      - CoolRapQuote
        
        As bad as the 2012 ecf* and i understand that’s not common with Celtics fans. But I have respect for the lakers. I don’t have much for the heat and LeBron.
- pomelaandersom
  
  Savannah . I see what you mean… Irene `s bl0g is good, yesterday I picked up a brand new Porsche 911 from making $4195 this – 5 weeks past and-over, 10/k lass month . this is actually the coolest job Ive ever done . I actually started six months/ago and straight away began to earn at least $80 per-hr . try this web-site…
  
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swissflix

Apart from the obvious fact that we have no rim protector and thus get Gasol his 30something points on 31 for 2 shooting basically i think Young and Bradley really showed their flaws. They are perfect examples for what Pierce called players without fundamentals earlier this week. Bradley is an undersized guard who has excelled at ONE thing: shooting the mid range j fairly well. Other than that he cannot pass the ball (Cleveland, Phoenix), he cannot dribble (remember the ball he shot at Zeller’s legs in a clogged lane in this game) and he cannot create for himself or others. He came in as a project and first survived as a defender and now as a shooter.
Same goes for Young. Sure, he got to play only two minutes and he is probably not strong enough yet. But he got scored on three straight times because he could not block out properly. And what about rotation?
I understand these players have a lot of potential but look at who beat us: A slow guy like Jon Leuer. And look who got us back in the game: Guys like Pressey, Klynyk and even Jeff. They all are sound fundamentaly. I really, really agree with Paulie.
- CoolRapQuote
  
  You’re disecting this as if Pierce and KG were on this team and we have championship hopes. We’re in rebuilding mode. And considering that certain teams get sucked into a black hole during rebuilds, we aren’t doing that bad. R-E-L-A-X, Aaron Rodgers. We’re a bad team thats in the middle of a reshape. It’s all good.
  - swissflix
    
    I don’t know who Aaron Rodgers is. But apart from that i am very well aware that we are in rebuilding mode. The thing is, we are actually playing well. However, i was referring to Paul’s comments earlier this week and i think AB and Young are examples for that kind of players.
    As for our team, if we had a legitimate 5 we would be really good actually. But i guess that’s a big if.
    - CoolRapQuote
      
      aaron Rodgers is the QB for the Green Bay packers. He’s the “discount double check” guy. He’s in lots of commercials. You probably know him by face, but the name might not ring a bell. I personally think that Marcus Smart could be a key piece on a championship team within a year or two of his career. Dirk and Pierce went 9 and 10 in their draft and panned out to be better than all of the previous 8 guys before them. A lot of those guys had much higher expectations. Could Marcus Smart end up making the 5 teams that picked before Boston regret their picks? Who knows? It wouldn’t shock me. Parker and Wiggins just are NOT lebroning their way into the league like everyone thought they might.
      - swissflix
        
        Absolutely agree with you on Marcus Smart! It’s his impact that has made me think of Paul Pierce. His numbers deceive. Of course that is why ESPN never mentions him when it comes to rookies.
        I am really looking forward to his return this week.
        ps. I am from Switzerland, not too many Rodgers commercials here
      - CoolRapQuote
        
        Ohhhh, I was actually kind of shocked, because Aaron Rodgers is a house hold name with most American sports fans. It’s really cool that so many Celtic fans are global. And lots of them are very knowledgable. How do you catch games out there? Do you go on free streaming sites, or is there some sort of nba package?
      - swissflix
        
        I have been a fan since 1993, got to see a game on Christmas wayyy back in 95 in Charlotte as an exchange student. Remember we were up by 15 until Glen Rice started to take Todd Day apart:) Back then one had to order video tapes of games, it would take them 2-3 weeks to arrive. A tape would contain a full game and a condensed one…crazy. Now i can use nba tv and just watch the games the day after, always making sure i don’t check on scores before! Go Celtics!
      - CoolRapQuote
        
        That’s awesome. I live in Dallas and order league pass every year so I can watch the games. I’m only 28, so back in the mid 90’s, I was playing sega genesis and learning long division. Haha. Go Celtics. Ps, Thank you for Gruyere cheese. In my opinion, it’s the greatest cheese on Earth. there was a low point in my life where I’d drink tons of wine, and eat a half pound, to 3/4 of a pound of that stuff just about every day. And I ate the real stuff! Not that crap they make in America!
      - swissflix
        
        Well i did not miss out on the genesis either;)
        You’re welcome for the cheese! Glad to hear you like our cheese-drinking wine and eating cheese cannot be a low point, it’s a way of life! Every country has some great food to offer!
Alex Costa

- It’s amazing how bad the Celtics defense is. We desperately need Smart back just so the C’s feeds off his energy because right now, they desperately need it.

– Rondo is the worst defender in the Celtics team, in my opinion. At least Thorton tries to keep his man in front of him. I noticed that ANYONE can blow by Rondo whenever they want with almost no effort whatsoever.

– Bradley is no longer the elite defender that we all loved in past seasons. He leaves his man open quite a lot. I guess he is conserving his energy for offense… but let’s face it, he’s one streaky offensive player… I’d rather him stick to being a stingy defender that tires out PGs in the other team rather than hold my breath as he chucks a shot at the hoop.

– See Kelly Olynyk! If you play aggressively, you can score whenever you want! Kelly looked amazing in the third quarter, I really wish he can do a lot more of that in other quarters. It’s just bizarre that he passes up certain shots when he is one of the best shooters in our team!

– I would really like to see Bradley come off the bench and Thorton start. Thorton is a more polished offensive player and an underrated defender. I feel Bradley would play better against opponent’s bench players.

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