Still basking in the glow of the Celtics' Game 5 victory in Miami? The guys at Gang Green are prepared to dissect the win, taunt the Heat and look ahead to Game 6 in Boston.
You can watch the latest episode of Gang Green right here live at 9... and hit the jump and join in the conversation via Twitter or the chat room.
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Enjoy some pics from last night's thrilling Game 5 victory in Miami. Top play GIFs after the jump...
Pics via Sina & GIFs via HTT
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Boston Celtics rookie center Greg Stiemsma and Lance Thomas of the New Orleans Hornets have been added to the select team of young players that will train against the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team.
Also, USA Basketball has announced that Orlando forward Ryan Anderson has withdrawn, leaving the roster at 14 players. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said Wednesday the Americans were committed to inviting two players from their Pan American Games team that won a bronze medal last summer.
The select team will train against the Americans in Las Vegas from July 6-11. The roster also includes Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, Jeremy Lin, John Wall, Kawhi Leonard, DeJuan Blair, DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Taj Gibson and Klay Thompson.
Congrats to Greg Stiemsma. Playing against Team USA will be a great learning experience.
But shouldn't the Steamer be resting his aching feet?
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This play was all kinds of amazing in a very short time:
The block by Wade on the Bass dunk attempt? Nasty? Rondo recognizing in the span of less than two seconds, that Mickael Pietrus is in the corner and then slapping it to him while getting fouled (how big was THAT no-call??) was ridiculous. Pietrus hitting the 3... well... that was probably just luck the way he was shooting.
Ok. I'm kidding. Nice shot, Peaches.
It was, as Mike Breen said so disappointingly, a big turnaround play. It was a play the Basketball Gods, to whom Doc Rivers prays and sacrifices rookie playing time, owed the Celtics. Because it wasn't too long ago that this happened:
Wade being involved in both plays is so deliciously karmic, isn't it?
Let us say a prayer of thanks to the Basketball Gods
Red Auerbach, who art in Heaven
Hallowed by thy name
Thy banners come
This will be done, in Boston
as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily hoops,
and forgive us our turnovers,
as we forgive those to commit turnovers for us
And lead us not into the lottery
but deliver us from Kobe
For thine is the parquet
the Green and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Thanks to the generous folks at The Forest Lab, we have 5 Larry Bird t-shirts to give away today.
The first 5 correct responses - submitted in the comments section of this blog post - get a free t-shirt.
Question:
With 26 points and 11 rebounds last night, Kevin Garnett put up his 9th 20/10 game of the playoffs. How many times did KG reach 20/10 during the regular season?
Hint: We revealed the answer earlier today.
Good luck.
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I had a private conversation last night with someone who was forced to admit something that we should all know isn't true anyway.
Numbers don't mean everything.
That's not to say numbers, in this case the advanced stats movement that has swept NBA journalism, aren't important. They are. They say a lot. They tell us a great many things.
But what these equations fail to take into account is what these Boston Celtics...
YOUR.... Boston Celtics...
... have in abundance.
Heart.
Or "grit and balls." Whichever term you prefer. It's all in the same category. It's the immeasurable quality of the human soul. It's the quality that makes men brave. It's the quality that makes individuals go where they shouldn't and emerge victorioius. It's the quality that makes Han Solo say "never tell me the odds" and navigate into that asteroid field anyway.
Ok... that last one was a fictional character. But still, it was cool and it applies.
You want real quantification of heart over numbers? You want a real, hyperbolic reach that still sort of works?
Continue reading "The Boston Celtics: A team that defies numbers" »
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We often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics. Here's a look at some enemy chatter from Miami.
The Miami Heat hit their lowest point of the postseason on Tuesday night but one young child was there to provide a "glass is half full" assessment despite the demoralizing circumstances.
As the Heat walked off the American Airlines Arena court, having lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics 94-90, a young child's voice was picked up by television cameras offering excited encouragement.
The child repeatedly said "Good job! Good effort!" while clapping as LeBron James, Ronny Turiaf and Shane Battier headed for the locker room after falling behind the Celtics 3-2 in the series. The Heat conceded homecourt advantage with the loss and are now staring down a possible close-out Game 6 set for Thursday night at TD Garden.
Naive as this child's reaction is, at least he brought some energy to the arena. You can't say the same for the other 19-thousand people in the building.
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Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
I'm gonna change the name of this team. This team was hanging in there so much. They came out... whatever Miami did to kill them off, they came coming back. I'm gonna call them... cockroaches
Leave it to Tommy to put this way.
The Celtics last night looked like they could, at any time, just fold and be done with the game. I mean, they made some of the DUMBEST mistakes out there.
Yet there they were, constantly hanging around... down 8... down 5... down by just enough to make a couple of baskets and have it be a brand new game. Doing just enough to keep Miami from running away with it.
It was just amazing.
It was mind boggling. I'm still not completely sure I saw some of the things I saw. But it happened. So... rather than wake up from this dream, I'll just move forward.
On Page 2: The Celtics have done nothing
Continue reading "Your Morning Dump... Where these are the Boston Cockroaches" »
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Oh my...
If the Celtics are able to close out this series, we're gonna be talking about this shot for a long time. Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 years... but for a long time.
(Video courtesy @jose3030)
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Do you know what just happened? Does anyone?
I'll repeat what I said on Twitter earlier during the game. I've never seen a team so close in a basketball game but teeter so close to total collapse like the Celtics did all night. They had a million chances to fold, and it looked like they'd take about 900,000 of them at various points.
The most egregious loss of focus came in the third quarter when Miami was starting to make a litle run, got a 4 point lead, and Rondo casually flipped the ball back to Ray Allen for the worst back court violation you'll ever see. Miami hit a 3. Doc called a time out. And the clearly dead and unfocused Celtics outscored Miami 15-3 over the rest of the of the quarter.
Totally makes sense, right?
The Celtics won the middle quarters 49-38, which really was the difference in this game. The Celtics and Heat went back and forth in the fourth. The Celtics best offense for a bit seemed to be random scrums where lucky bounces found open guys for huge plays. Then Paul Pierce took a 3 that we would have killed him for, but instead we will celebrate because it was dead in the eye of LeBron James with :52 left.... and it was followed with a "oooohhhh, I'm so bad" on his way back down the floor.
Rajon Rondo shot 3-15 and had an alternately brilliant and terrible game, which fit the flow of this thing perfectly. He still managed 13 assists (mostly to KG for dunks), and was a game-high +11.
LeBron and Wade combined for 57, but no one else had much impact at all, including Chris Bosh who only played 12 minutes.
The Celtics win Game 5. Teams that win Game 5 win 84% of 7-game series. They'll have a chance to be on the right side of that statistic and close the Heat out at home on Thursday night.
The old, slow, injured Celtics are 1 win from going to the NBA Finals.
Wow.
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