Posts Tagged → Ray Allen
Interview with Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post, Part III
Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
No introduction necessary.
A few days ago, I was able to ask Rock a few questions to preview the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics.
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One of the major storylines last year, and even this year, was the “what if” scenario, in which people wondered what the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals would have been like had Kevin Garnett and to a lesser extent, Jameer Nelson, had been healthy. Given that the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics are playing well in the postseason, is there a chance we get to see the series that everyone wanted to see last season with both teams at full strength?
Oh, without question, this series is the one everyone wanted to see last year. And the fact that [Jameer] Nelson is playing out of his damn mind right now only makes it more interesting. Garnett, too, is on a roll, having destroyed the Cavs from the inside (when they put Antawn Jamison on him) and the outside (when they assigned Shaquille O’Neal). This series has a lot of potential even without considering those players’ return to form. But yes, the fact that both teams are at full strength only sweetens the deal.
Interview with Zach Lowe of CelticsHub
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
The Boston Celtics — undoubtedly — have a rich history, a prestigious franchise, and some of the best team blogs in the blogosphere, which are supported by a loyal fanbase that really cares about their C’s. CelticsBlog and Red’s Army are some well-known sites that have been around the block but CelticsHub, which has been around for a little over a year now, has blossomed as a go-to source for daily coverage of the Celtics. CelticsHub is buoyed by a trio of excellent writers — Brendan Jackson, Zach Lowe, and Brian Robb, who combine to provide a rich blend of analysis, commentary, and news.
A few days ago, I was able to ask Lowe a few questions to preview the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics.
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Is the Boston Celtics’ resurgence, or whatever what you’d like to call it, simply a matter of the team getting healthy and “flipping the switch” or is there another factor that people have been overlooking?
You know, I was skeptical about the possibility that they would flip the switch. But they have, and you can see it in both their defensive intensity and the decline in their turnover rate on offense. Their defense has picked up in just about every way. They held the Cavs, the 2nd-best three-point shooting team in the league, to about 28 percent shooting from deep. They forced about 15.5 turnovers per game. They protected the rim better than they had since Christmas.
Perhaps most importantly, they rebounded about 78.5 percent of Cleveland’s misses–a defensive rebounding rate that would have led the league in the regular season, and a huge jump from Boston’s season-long number.
And on offense, they transformed from one of the most turnover-prone teams in the league to a team that coughed it up at about a league-average rate. The Cavs don’t force a ton of turnovers, but neither do the Magic, so the C’s improved care for the ball should carry over.
As you say, some of this is due to health. Kevin Garnett hasn’t looked this good since he injured his knee in the middle of last season. He averaged 19 points per game on 58 percent shooting against the Cavs and destroyed Antawn Jamison in the post to the point that Mike Brown, who may be fired by the time your readers see this, actually switched Shaq onto KG during Game 6.
Tuesday’s Magic Word
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “You have to wonder if Skip Bayless was persuaded into calling the Orlando Magic’s playoff performance “bologna” on ESPN’s First Take just for the sake of debate Tuesday morning. [...] ”I still don’t trust a team that’s built largely on Dwight Howard and Vince Carter. And I know he came on at the end of the year. I just think it’s going to be different in the next round and the next round. And I’m going to say this for the last time, I still say the Charlotte Bobcats would have been a tough matchup for LeBron James because they have four guys who are his size, 6-foot-8, long and athletic who can guard him and frustrate him which is why the Bobcats beat them the last three times.” After his criticism, Skip Bayless praised the Magic’s impressive three-point shooting and said Orlando turned in one of the most devastating three point performances he’d ever seen.”
- Is Dwight Howard going to Hollywood in the summer?
- Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk chimes in on the possibility that Howard skips the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
- Colin Powers of SLAM ONLINE: “You could probably argue all day about the relative merits of Carter (who really struggled for a good portion of the season) and Turkoglu (who really struggled for the entirety of the season with Toronto). Nonetheless, such a focus obstructs us from giving proper acknowledgment to that which is truly the greatest change to the Magic roster: Jameer Nelson. The 28 year-old guard just finished catalyzing Orlando toward their four game sweep of Charlotte, aggressively taking it to Ray Felton and DJ Augustin and driving the largely Howard-less Magic on in their journey for 16 wins this post-season. Nelson came into this series off of a fairly pedestrian regular season. His shooting numbers and scoring were down, particularly from 3-point range, and he seemed to have once again fallen into that trap of inconsistency that plagued his earlier years in the League. Orlando ran 12 deep all season, with positional versatility and a new sense of toughness that was certainly a progression from their ‘08-09 incarnation. But without Jameer making plays and putting some fear into opposing defenses, they just didn’t seem like a championship team.”
- Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook takes a look at how the Magic were able to sweep the Bobcats.
- Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post on “Playoff Pietrus” — Mickael Pietrus‘ alter-ego: “For whatever reason, Pietrus really dials himself in after the 82nd game. Consider that, in terms of True Shooting, the best evaluation of shooting efficiency, Pietrus’ 63.1% mark in the last two postseasons combined exceeds any other NBA swingman’s regular-season marks in each of the last two seasons. Boston Celtics All-Star Ray Allen came the closest to matching Pietrus, with a 62.4% clip last season. Now, Allen scores more than Pietrus because he’s a bigger part of Boston’s offense. The takeaway is that, in the postseason, Pietrus is slightly more efficient than one of the game’s purest shooters has been, despite his own goofy, fading away release off his back foot, while bringing his hands back to his chest.”
- Howard is frustrated, but happy: “Ya’ll know that that series against Charlotte drove me crazy. I mean it was almost comical at times how I was getting fouls called on me. There was nothing I could do our there and I felt like I couldn’t even move without getting that whistle blown on me. I’m not looking to say anything to get myself in trouble with the league, but I just don’t see other star players getting called for fouls the way I get them. No star player in the league is outta games the way I am. I even talked to Pat Ewing about his career and he said he never had foul trouble like what I’m going through. I gotta say this is the most frustrating stretch of my career. I’ve never been through four games in a row like that. But hey, we won the series and we’re moving on. I’m so so so hoping that things will be different next series against ATL or Milwaukee.”
- Want to see some rare photos of Howard? Click here.
