Sunday, November 10, 2013

Clearly the Celtics took to heart what I had to say about tanking

The moment after Jeff Green beat the Heat.
Last Wednesday I wrote a piece in which I semi-accused the 0-4 Celtics of tanking.  It seems as though they've listened to what I had to say.  I expressed my reservations about Gerald Wallace and Vitor Faverani in the starting lineup, and both have now been moved to the bench (Wallace that very evening, Faverani two games later, although his minutes were cut back starting that night).  I asked for Kris Humphries to see some action (after three straight DNP-CD's), and he's played in each game since.  The excessive number of turnovers had me worried about the decision to use Avery Bradley as the point guard, and he has now been replaced in that role by Jordan Crawford (also that same day when Crawford started in Wallace's place) and Phil Pressey, who like Humphries I suggested should not be stuck on the end of the bench.

Boston's 4th quarter struggles are coming around as well; after getting beaten handily in the final period over their first 5 games, they played within one point in the fourth at Orlando on Friday (21-20), then finally outscored a team in the last frame for the first time all year against the Heat on Saturday.

But most importantly, the C's are 3-0 since I voiced my concerns.  And as spectacular as Jeff Green's buzzer-beating game-winning three pointer in Miami was (and maybe even better was the inbounds pass from Wallace, which was lobbed to the exact perfect spot clear across the entire court), it may be even more amazing that the reason they won was because Dwyane Wade wasn't able to hit the rim on a free throw (after missing the one before).



Also, I highly recommend clicking on the picture above to enlarge it, then looking closely at all the fans.  In particular the lone guy in a Celtics tank up top, and the two others in Heat jerseys to Green's left.

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