MVN - Most Valuable Network

11 Not Cs Lucky Number

Jazz 110 Celtics 92No way around it, Cs got whacked. Worst loss of the year and only the second double digit loss this season. Only Charlotte had been able to beat the Cs by a margin of 10+ points.

Utah looked possessed from the outset. The Celtics had only spent about 2 minutes of actual time, trailing on the scoreboard in the their last four games (they didn’t trail at all in 3 of the previous 4) but they basically trailed all night in this one. I expected a tough game as the Celtics gave Utah its last home loss and that was in, December. In fact as I am writing this Carlos Boozer is speaking with Greg Dickerson and saying that the Jazz really wanted this game to make up for what happened back in Utah.

I was very surprised when the Celtics beat the Jazz that night as Utah had entered the 4th quarter against the Lakers two nights before, trailing by 32 points. Jerry Sloan benched all the starters for the final quarter and they ended up losing by 18. I had figured the Jazz would come out and play possessed that night and if I remember correctly, they did. However so did the Celtics and they kind of stole of one. The Jazz didn’t steal one tonight, they grabbed hold early and did not let go.

In the Celtics press conference KG spoke of seeing early that Cs did not have the energy. Both he and Paul Pierce basically said that Milwaukee can expect a full effort from the Cs on Saturday night to make up for it. Goes back to what I was talking about with the earlier Jazz game. I think the Jazz shot around 60% in the first half of that game after laying the egg in LA the game before.

Rough night for the Cs starting wings. Ray Allen had to leave the game after taking just two shots with some sort of lower leg injury. He slipped on a wet spot while driving, played another minute or so and then left for the night. It didn’t look too bad but he didn’t return so who knows. On the other side Paul Pierce was as cold as a popsicle, shooting just 1-7. You aren’t going to beat the Utah Jazz when those two combine to go 2-9 and score just 17 points.

Odd night for Garnett as well as he had just 4 rebounds. Celtics were smacked around a little underneath, losing the rebounding battle, 38-29.

Great game for Utah PG Deron Williams. Probably the best game by an individual player on a contending team in a game against the Cs all season. Williams scored 32 of the most efficient points you will EVER see scored. How does 3.2 points per SHOT sound? He attempted just 10 shots and made 7 but hit on 17 of 18 from the line. The kid is the real deal and it was a travesty that he did not make the all star game.

Utah is a scary team and they are hungry after losing in the west finals last year. I like them as much as anyone out West. I had Houston before the season and they are starting to make me look really good but I can’t imagine them being able to win play-off series without Yao. Utah though is as well rounded as any team in basketball. If the Celtics make the finals, don’t be surprised if we see the Jazz on the other side.

No time for Sam or PJ tonight. Everyone else played but Eddie House was the lone back-up at PG. Easy to throw them in when you are playing the Grizzlies or Bulls and have a double digit lead but the Celtics never came close to being in that position tonight. They were down double digits most of the evening. They knocked the lead down a time or two but each time the Jazz would come up with a big answer to extend the lead. It got as close to 4 I believe in 4th quarter but then was up to 18 by the time the game was over. The Jazz just never took their foot off the pedal, which is not normal for an NBA team, even a team as good as Utah.

Celtics will now have to regroup, as Pierce said they will. The toughest four game stretch of the season follows a game in Milwaukee on Saturday. Despite the cushion that the team has over the Pistons I would hate to see that Bucks game get away. Lets be honest, at that point a the possibility of a 6 game losing streak would be a real thing. Counting the game against the Jazz the Cs are probably playing 5 of the 7 best teams (not counting themselves)in basketball over this 6 game stretch.

Gun to my head power rankings:

1: Celtics
2: Spurs
3. Pistons
4. Jazz
5. Lakers
6. Rockets
7. Hornets
8. Mavericks

For the record I like Utah more than Detroit but I just didn’t want it to look like I was humping them because of this one result. No matter how you slice it the next week will be tough for the green. It will also be fun.

Have a good weekend all.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Celtics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.