Friday, October 26, 2012

A look inside some of the Celtics final preseason numbers

- Rajon Rondo made 17-22 free throws in the preseason, good for 77%.  As I mentioned before, if this is a sign of things to come, watch out NBA.

Will Sullinger be the Celts best rebounder?
- Jason Terry hit 18 of 26 three's, 69%.  Obviously he won't keep that up, but it definitely bodes well for the new shooting guard.  Paul Pierce also made more than half his attempts from downtown, 14-27.  By comparison our old friend Ray down in Miami has connected on just 10 of 29 (35%) through 7 exhibition games (the Heat have one more tonight).

- Rookie Jared Sullinger led the C's in rebounding, averaging 7 per game.  I'm going to go out on a limb and predict he'll lead the team during the regular season as well.  He also pulled down 20 offensive rebounds in 8 games, nearly a third of the team's total (66), and more than double the next highest player (fellow rookie Kris Joseph with 9).  While this is definitely an impressive stat, I'm going to chalk it up mostly to the youthful exuberance.  Offensive boards are all about effort, and obviously the rookies care more and try harder during the preseason than veterans do; Kevin Garnett had just one offensive rebound.

- Rondo led the Celtics in minutes played, which is almost certain to happen during the season as well.  But second on the team was Jeff Green, a bit of a surprise.

- The same was also true for scoring; Pierce topped the C's by averaging 15 points a game (also likely to continue in the regular season), while Green was second at 13.9 PPG.  Hopefully the minutes and scoring are an indication of big things to come from Green when the games actually start counting next week.

 
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2012 at 3:13 PM

    Cool numbers, dude.

    Re. Offensive Rebounds -- the C's were atrocious last season, dead last percentage-wise. And I'm not sure that wasn't pretty much by design (work for a good shot, but prioritize getting back on D rather than pursuing the ball).

    It's similar to those baseball pitchers who induce a lot of double-play gounders...all well and good until you realize this guy's probably putting too many runners on base.

    Last season, Sacramento was Top 5 in OR%, Miami was 20th. (The numbers geek inside me continues to search for insight from/about the value of Off. Rebounding.)

    Rondo's first and foremost task this time around is to make KG's and Pierce's minutes as stress-less as possible. That doesn't require blowouts, just that the game be played at the right tempo.

    Lastly, one semi-personal question, if I may: Has anyone at the bar ever asked "Are you Lucid?" (I'm not sure how one would pronounce the upper-case L.) It seems like something a modern-day Hemingway might do, go in search of a Lucid barman.
    Just askin', no offense intended.

    Take care and be well,

    Abacus

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  2. Mark Van DeusenOctober 29, 2012 at 11:29 PM

    Another great comment Abacus, thanks. Totally agree about the offensive rebounds, they didn't go after them by choice; it's part of their great defense. As far as the LucidBarMan goes, a while back somebody did recognize me in the bar because of the blog, but that's about as close as it's come so far...

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