What Kevin Garnett doesn’t know quite possibly may hurt him. Continue reading ‘Look out behind you!’
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This is old news, but just to be thorough, the NBA fined Rip Hamilton for throwing an elbow at Kevin Garnett in Game 1. This is actually good news, since there was a small (okay, tiny) chance that Rip might have been suspended. That said, it doesn’t sound like there’s any hard feelings on Boston’s side. From Chris Silva of the Detroit Free Press:
Added Boston coach Doc Rivers: “It was flagrant, I can tell you that. We thought that at the time. But again, Rip is a good guy, great guy, and it’s an emotional game and that kind of stuff happens. I’ve done it before, too, and thank God at that time we didn’t have flagrant 1s or 2s. It’s just part of the game at times, and it’s not a big deal.”
Speaking of suspensions, Rasheed Wallace is flirting with one of his own: he picked up his fifth tech of the postseason in the first quarter last night, just two away from a mandatory one-game vacation. Once a player accumulates seven techs in the postseason, another suspension follows after every other tech the rest of the playoffs.
In all honesty, this may be the stupidest rule in the game, especially considering by design it creates controversy. The only teams it could possibly affect are the ones who advance deep into the playoffs, which means the first time a player is actually punished under this rule, it’ll happen under a huge spotlight.
Besides, techs are so subjective in the first place — some refs give players a long leash while others actually egg them on (cough, Joey Crawford, cough). Punish players by hitting them in the pocket book, not ruining a series that millions of fans would like to see decided by the best players playing.
After beating the Cavaliers, Kevin Garnett spoke about the toll two seven-game series have taken on his team. From Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal:
“As you advance, it does get a little more difficult,” forward Kevin Garnett said. “Detroit has obviously been resting and waiting, and we’ve played 14 hard games. We’re more emotionally drained than anything, but we’re getting prepared for Detroit (today).”
The Pistons see this as a potential advantage … but also a trap. From Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:
“It’s a tough turnaround for them,” Billups said. “For seven games they’ve been locked into one team. Then you’ve got one day to prepare for another team that’s been waiting and ready to go. We’ll see how they handle it.
“But frankly, I don’t care if they handle it at all. I am just worried about us.”
Lindsey Hunter cautioned his teammates against thinking the Celtics might be physically or mentally fatigued.
“We can’t go into the series thinking that is an advantage for us,” he said. “We have to go and play them like they’ve swept everybody.
“They were the best team in the NBA. They didn’t accomplish that by chance. That (fatigue) won’t be a factor.”
If the Pistons want to take this series, I think they need to split the first two games. Trouble is, Game 1 will be the most difficult after a long layoff — the Pistons may not like to admit it, but they’re definitely a rhythm team that benefits when players have a chance to stay in a groove. Fortunately, there are no more funky breaks between now and the NBA Finals — the Pistons and Celtics will play every other day until someone wins four.
Besides, if I had to choose between starting out-of-sync and being fatigued, the choice is easy: the former improves the more you play, the latter gets worse. And after banging the “they lost because they were tired!” drum for two straight years, I’m kind of excited to know that the Pistons are more rested now than they’ve been the entire season. It’s time to put up or shut up.
Update: Ray Allen adds his two cents:
“I would rather have the rhythm” of regular competition than extra rest, Allen said, “because (with) the rhythm you don’t have to guess from one day to the next” how you’ll play.
Take this with a mountain-sized grain of salt: this is a guy who scored 0, 16, 10, 15, 11, 9 and 4 points, respectively, in the Cleveland series. I guarantee no one on the Celtics’ roster has a clue which Ray Allen will show up from night to night — he may be Boston’s biggest wild card of the playoffs.
From the ESPN’s Daily Dime: Said Garnett: “Joe Johnson is the most underrated player in our league besides [Detroit’s] Rasheed Wallace. He’s underrated … I’ll give it to him. He played his [butt] off.”
Let’s not kid ourselves: tonight’s game against the Celtics is huge. (And I don’t think anyone will argue that the Pistons weren’t caught looking ahead a little bit last night.) In preparation for the battle, Jeff from CelticsBlog asked me a few questions about the Pistons, and I did the same to him about the Celtics:
DBB: With the Celtics possibly needing an adjustment period integrating Sam Cassell and PJ Brown into their rotation and the Pistons playing the majority of their remaining games at home, are you worried about Boston losing the top seed? I’m not sure the top seed is actually preferable given the second-round matchup with LeBron that would likely ensue, but are you concerned that slipping to the No. 2 seed might be blow to Boston’s confidence that might linger into the playoffs after most people assumed they’d go wire to wire?
CB: Playoff seedings? Hold on, I remember those. I seem to remember them being important for some reason. You’ll have to excuse me if I’m out of practice with this sort of thing. Same with the Celtics themselves, to an extent. This group is so new and new to this situation that I don’t think they really care about who they play. There is pressure to win, but not because of wanting to go wire-to-wire or to preserve some psychological edge. The pressure to win is ingrained into the very being of Kevin Garnett’s soul. Not to mention the overall feeling of all the thirtysomethings that know how few opportunities like this happen.
Doc has been focusing on the playoffs more and more since the All Star break, as well he should. But that focus revolves around preparing Rondo to handle teams gameplanning against him or getting Powe and Big Baby minutes off the bench. Yes, it will also involve getting Cassell and Brown worked into the rotation, and it might cost us some games here and there. But I don’t think the team cares if it is the number one seed or the number two. At least not yet. The last couple weeks of the season might tell a different story. Continue reading ‘On playoff seeds and jersey-popping: a Q&A with CelticsBlog’
This is where it gets interesting, right? No, this is where it fizzles out. McDyess started advancing toward KG, who actually threw a punch, but by that point KG was backpedaling so much he either missed or barely grazed McDyess’ chest. Words were exchanged and McDyess clearly tried to get to KG, but KG was in full-fledged Carmelo hit-and-run mode, putting just enough space between the two for them to be separated by teammates, coaches and officials but staying close enough to hurl insults.
In any event, the little shoving match worked out in Detroit’s favor — with Minnesota’s head coach Dwayne Casey already benching Ricky Davis in the third quarter, the T’Wolves were without their top two leading scorers for the rest of the fourth and two overtimes. McDyess didn’t bait KG (it was the other way around), but he knew his team would have the advantage:
“I know they can win without me. I don’t think they can win without K.G.,” said McDyess.
And they did — 104-98 in overtime. Many thanks to DBB reader Mike Payne for reminding me about this. To be perfectly honest, I’ll be shocked if there are any lingering feelings from this incident — I doubt McDyess is even capable of holding a grudge — but I’m surprised I haven’t seen it mentioned in the build-up to this game.
Update: Blakely mentioned it this morning, and McCosky addressed it wrote something after today’s shootaround.
From Chris McCosky’s blog:
Saunders talked a lot about Garnett after practice today. He called him the most versatile player ever to play the game, and it’s hard to argue the point. Saunders told the story about giving Garnett his first NBA start. It, ironically, was in Boston late in KGs rookie year. “I played him almost the whole game,” Saunders said. “I took him out late and as he walked by me he said, ‘Thanks for playing me so much, coach.’ Things have kind of changed since then.”
More from Flip: “Here’s the number one thing about KG. There is nobody in the game that respects the game as much as he does. When people respect the game like he does, I always say the basketball gods will shine upon you and good things will happen. If you respect the game, it will come back to you and it has come back to KG three-fold.
Funny story. It’d be even funnier if it were true. Garnett’s first NBA start actually came on January 9, 1996 in Los Angeles — the Lakers won that game 106-104, and KG played only 22 minutes. (The only time the Wolves played in Boston that year was on December 22, 1995, when KG played 19 minutes off the bench.)
It’s not the first time Saunders has told a revisionist history in regards to KG, but whatever, I still agree with the second part, which was kind of the whole point of his comments. KG is one of the game’s good guys and as fans we’re better off with him being surrounded by talented teammates.
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