Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls, Saturday, October 15, 2005 8:30pm in Chicago

This game was played less than 24 hours after the Celtics finished beating the Toronto Raptors in Manchester, NH.  We were going to learn just how well-conditioned the Good Guys were as the preseason got underway in earnest.

Doc Rivers was not with the team, attending to family business. Tony Allen, Al Jefferson and Marcus Banks were all unavailable with injuries.  Al might be back in as little as a week.  There isn't any word on Marcus expected before Monday.  Tony was originally expected to travel with the team so he could be available to speak with Chicago authorities on Monday about a shooting over the summer, but apparently, he's going to be making the trip on his own later.

The Bulls were disgustingly healthy as the evening began.

In a pregame interview, Ricky Davis said he actually enjoyed playing Point Guard, though I still think it's just a once in a while thing.  Ricky's passes are sometimes too erratic for a good Point Guard, and with his size, he should be going inside, not distributing the ball.

CELTICS STARTERS:
Guards: Dan Dickau, Paul Pierce
Center: Mark Blount
Forwards: Ricky Davis, Raef LaFrentz
Coached by: Assistant Coach Tony Brown

BULLS STARTERS:
Guards: Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon
Center: Tyson Chandler
Forwards: Luol Deng, Michael Sweetney
Coached by: Scott Skiles

For the life of me, after his uniformly terrible showing in last night's game, I couldn't understand why Dickau wasn't cut from the team--never mind starting.  The C's had immense confidence in the guy, I just hoped last night was a major exception to normally stellar play, otherwise the C's were in BIG trouble.

FIRST QUARTER:

On the first possession, Dickau proved inept enough to nearly lose the ball, which led to a short possession with no score.  On the next trip, Mark Blount remedied things by hitting a hook shot that reminded me of Robert Parish for a moment.  So the Good Guys scored first, and we were off and hopefully running.

Dickau worked hard to redeem himself with a fast break pass to Pierce, who drew the defense, then fired it back to Ricky Davis, who zoomed down the lane for a dunk.  Dickau seems to have been told to get rid of the ball faster.  But he still can't play one on one defense.  His man did whatever he wanted, either shooting over Dickau, or leaving him in the dust.  Dan couldn't even bring the ball up up under light pressure without Raef LaFrentz running some interference.  I think his defensive liabilities outweigh whatever intangibles the Celtics see in him right now.

By contrast, Mark Blount looks much smoother at both ends of the floor, and so far hasn't been called for early fouls like last season.  His face has more of that "I'm concentrating" look, as opposed to the "Who am I, and what am I doing here?" look he had most of the previous year.

Raef was earning his pay on the offensive end, getting shoved by Chandler, and sent face first to the floor,  He got up quickly, with Pierce's help, and looked ok.  One more reason these guys need to start wearing helmets.  To my astonishment, the refs called it correctly as a hard foul, giving Raef a free throw and the C's possession of the pumpkin.  Raef missed the free throw, but since his face still had an impression of the floor etched on it, I'll cut him slack on this one.

I like that Pierce is thinking more pass than shoot when the defense closes in.  I think he finally gets is, more internally than in past seasons.  Blount hit another jumper, and looked comfy doing it.  Maybe this is his year.  He did a nice job trying to stop Sweetney down low, but the guy is too big for Blount. 

Pierce, once more sporting a headband, made a nice move on the baseline for two and a foul, as the defense didn't cave, worried about a pass.  Paul is playing with a smile on his face for the first time in ages, and it suits him.  His free throw looked smooth going in.  My only concern about Pierce right now is if he'll hold up in a back to back preseason game.

I'd like to mention once more, as in seasons past, that whomever does the Celtics scheduling should be made to travel with the team and carry their luggage for a year.

Unfortunately, Paul picked up his second foul when they caught him helping Luol Deng to the floor.  This led to a seat for Paul as Ryan Gomes came in with 6:07 left in the quarter and the Bulls ahead, 16-14.

Kirk Heinrich, allegedly guarded by Dickau, had 7 of the Bull's 18 points to this juncture.  I was beyond mystified at Dan's continued presence in the game, I wanted him gone.  Following a timeout, Delonte West facilitated my wish.  At least now we were playing 5 on 5 instead of 4 on 5.  How easy was Dickau?  Delonte West was coming back from an ankle injury, and hadn't played for a few days.  They respected his defense, going in another way when he took the court.

By this time, Chicago had upped the defensive intensity, trying to cut off the C's inside game, and it seemed to be working.  Delonte was having some trouble maintaining control of the ball.  It's possible the injury and layoff affected him more than I thought it would.  Timeout was called with 2:50 left in the quarter and the Bulls ahead, 27-20.

Perkins had come back in and continued to be a hard worker on the boards.  But the scrambling Chicago defense was making the C's cough up the ball now.  You'd think they knew that it wasn't healthy to swallow a basketball in the first place, but what do I know?

Ryan Gomes also showed his mettle on the boards.  I like that the kids go to the hoop at both ends.  Ricky Davis, however, looked like he was having "one of those nights" where nothing went in easy.  That's never a good sign. 

One one defensive play, Gomes and Reed tried to block a shot, but Perkins came from the lane, jumped over BOTH men and took down the rebound.  Wow.  Perkins is determined to prevent any easy hoops.  Time ran out on the following possession as the first quarter ended with Boston's first lead of the game, 28-27.

SECOND QUARTER:

The Celtics changed things up to start the second quarter, going with a bigger lineup, perhaps hoping to knock some of the starch out of the Bulls.  Or maybe knock some teeth out of their mouths, anything was possible. 

By now, I had little doubt that Delonte West was having trouble--his man started to lose him too easily, and West was still having trouble controlling the ball.  Either he's rustier than he should be, or something's wrong with him.

Scalabrine still can't reliably hit the outside jumper he's supposedly famous for.  Perkins got a VERY nice block as he took down Chandler along with the ball, resulting in a jump ball.  But the Celtics offense was now restricted to long-range jumpers that simply weren't going in.  The bigger guys weren't fast enough to beat the Chicago defense.

West nearly lost the ball again, and Gomes got robbed as the ball popped out of the rim later on the same trip.  Acting Head Coach Tony Brown clearly isn't paying attention, or he'd have pulled West by now.  He doing his best, but it's not happening.  This was proven when two Bulls players collided, taking themselves out of the play.  The Celtics, running a 5 on 3 break, got nothing when West pulled up for a long distance attempt.  He's normally smarter than that.  Timeout was called shortly thereafter, with 8:49 left in the half and the Bulls ahead, 30-28.

During the timeout Mike Gorman took a minute to point out that it was 39 years ago today, on October 15, 1966, that the Celtics retired Tom Heinsohn's number 15 along with Bill Sharman's number 21 and the 1966 Championship Banner.  Congratulations to all the members of that championship team, especially to Tommy and Bill.

The present day Celtics, however, had more immediate problems.  They were unable to score inside, whilst the Bulls were working their way through the Boston defense to increase their lead.  The C's didn't give up, though, as Brian Scalabrine crashed to the floor to poke the ball to a teammate, leading to a hoop for the just-returned Paul Pierce.

Orien Greene showed he will work on the defensive boards as Pierce began to annoy Luol Deng on the offensive end.  But once more, Dan Dickau was put into the game in place of Greene.  I was going to scream if this kept up.

Dan tried to bring the ball up past Heinrich and bounced off him.  A pity foul was called.  Heinrich barely registered the impact, but went to the bench so Chris Duhon could abuse Dickau for a while.  Meanwhile, Pierce found Raef for an easy two.  I like Pierce's willingness to seek the open man, and have the faith that he'll make a successful shot.

Ok, I'm impressed.  Dickau picked up a loose ball, and went the distance to score two up close.  At long last, a positive moment for Dan.  Sadly, the moment didn't last, as on the next trip, Dan was stripped of the ball, then ignored as the Bulls offense ran by him.  Dickau couldn't be more embarrassed on the court if they'd given him a wedgie as they zipped by.  Timeout was called with 2:57 left in the half and the Bulls leading it, 44-39.

Curtis Borchardt came in and committed fouls, sometimes the game is too fast for him.  The rest of the team was similarly ineffective offensively, having managed just 12 points in the last 12 minutes.  Chicago was beginning to build their lead as the half wound down.  Only a buzzer beater by Gomes brought the deficit within single digits as the half ended with the Bulls ahead, 54-45.

HALFTIME:

The Celtics play has been energetic and enthusiastic,  just not very effective.  They still hit dry spells when nobody can consistently score, no matter how well the play is set up.  Dickau would help us more if he played for the other team.  Delonte West, whether due to injury or whatnot, is not having a great night.  Ricky Davis was hot and cold.  Pierce was doing ok, but it wasn't reasonable to expect him to do it all when we hollered every time he tried that the last few years.

As far as stats went, the teams were much closer than I would have thought based on the halftime score.  Both teams were shooting at 44%.   Boston was 2-5 from the arc, whilst Chicago was 5-8.  Free throws were close, with the C's shooting 13-21 and the Bulls going  11-16.  Chicago held a 23-22 edge in rebounding.  The biggest differences were in fast break points, where the C's had a 6-0 edge, and in turnovers where the Celtics had an 11-4 edge, unfortunately.  It was a combination of the several factors that gave the Bulls the lead.

If Boston was to have any chance, they needed to minimize turnovers--meaning keep Dickau off the floor at all costs, so far as I was concerned--and score consistently on the offensive end. Additionally, they needed to shore up the defense a bit.  It wasn't like previous seasons, when the C's walked the ball up--the offense was pretty fast and certainly energetic.  It just wasn't producing points.

THIRD QUARTER:

Things began with Dan Dickau once more thrown to the lions--or, in this case, the Bulls.  Heinrich immediately realized he could pad his stats, and gleefully hit a jumper as Dickau ran to catch up, looking like nothing so much as someone's kid brother begging to play with the big kids.

LaFrentz, Pierce, Davis and Blount were also out there, so we had four guys who could play on the court.  Mark did hit an outside jumper of his own, but outside shots would not get it done unless the C's got red hot.  Dickau tried to make up for his defensive nonexistence by taking a three that missed.  Hinrich took the ball back upcourt, bypassing Dickau, and only slowed down and veered off when Mark Blount got in his path.

Pierce was playing better defense than he did in past years, staying with his man more.  On the next trip up that was for naught as Heinrich was once more open.  Kirk Hinrich was having a career night.  When Dickau moved in, Heinrich blew by him every time.  This time, Dickau backed off, then tried to run at him as Hinrich launched an essentially unopposed three.  This led to a timeout with 10:01 left in the 3rd quarter and the Bulls having ballooned their lead to 63-47.

As play resumed, the rest of the C's were unable to make a basket. First Pierce missed, then Blount got stripped under the hoop.  While Luol Deng was adding to the Bull's basketfest, Will Bynum entered the game to replace Dan Dickau.

About *%^%^*^%*#$%& time, I'd say.

If I'd known that you could be "six feet" tall, play no defense and launch outside shots that missed, and still play for the Boston Celtics, I'd have declared for the draft years ago.

I'll give Bynum credit--he stayed tight on Hinrich, but the guy STILL made the shot.  Bynum was making Hinrich work, so he passed off to Ben Gordon, who was likewise lighting it up.  By now, it was one of those confidence things, where everything goes in.  On the other end of the spectrum, nobody on the C's could buy a basket despite taking good shots.  Pierce was getting good looks, as was Raef.  But the Bulls defense was playing merry hell with the Boston passing game.

With 7:22 left in the quarter, Chicago held a 73-48 lead.  That's right, Boston had scored a total of three points in four and a half minutes of play,  Chicago had scored nineteen points in the same period of time.  Kendrick Perkins came back in to try to impede the layup line to the Boston basket.  Blount wasn't doing badly, but Perkins seemed to do better at shotblocking tonight, and we needed all the help we could get.

Perk immediately made his presence known as the Bulls tried again, this time unsuccessfully, to score inside.  Tyson Chandler was checking his fingers after that stuff.  Pierce, to his credit, tried every trick he knew to draw defenders in by the bunch to create open looks for his teammates.  But the C's were just trying too hard to get shots.

On a break, Bynum did make a nifty, economical pass to Pierce for a basket.  The guy knows his stuff so far, and he can defend.  He brought the ball up well against pressure, and even tried a pass fake to clear his way to a teammate, but the Bulls were ready for him anyway.

The C's finally started scoring again, led by Pierce, but all they could do was keep the current pace, and weren't making inroads on the lead.  Bynum helped out by hitting an outside jumper with poise.  Ricky Davis also created a few scoring opportunities.  Tonight, I had no problem with either Pierce or Davis looking for their shots.  The Bulls were defending the pass far too well, so it was good that we had two guys out there who could create their own shots.  They passed when they could, but by this time, it was fast approaching the point where all the C's could do was shore things up and ride it out.  With just over 4 minutes left in the quarter, the Bulls were ahead 84-64, and unless the Bulls offense collapsed and they traded for Dickau, it didn't look good for our team.

Orien Greene came in for Will Bynum.  By now, it was a matter of seeing how well the kids played in adversity.  Pierce sat with a minute to go, and honestly, there was no need for him to come back out on the court.  We know how well he can play, and he'd already done more than his share tonight.  There would be other nights.  Borchardt came in and promptly blocked a shot.  Gerald Green played tight defence and created a deflection.  The third quarter ended with the Bulls way in front, 92-77.  To the Celtics' credit, they'd actually closed the gap somewhat, to a 15 point deficit.

FOURTH QUARTER:

Despite my near-total optimism for the Celtics to prevail in any given situation, the fact was that it would take a monumental effort combined with experience and poise to overcome the deficit.  I didn't for a moment doubt the effort was there.  However, part of the reason the C's were in this jam was the lack of experience and poise.  Green, Greene, Gomes, Reed and Borchardt began the final quarter, which was a reasonably solid group, possibly excepting Borchardt.  Curtis Borchardt so far had been ok--neither great nor terrible.

The Bulls had likewise gone to the bench, realizing that barring weirdness of some sort, they had the game well in hand.  They wanted to see how their guys handled a lead, whilst we were looking at handling adversity.  It was now not so much a matter of who won the game, but who would win the 4th quarter.

Our guys defended well, but by this time, the Bulls were hitting the threes with confidence.  the C's switched off well, clogged the middle and made them shoot outside from the opening possession of the quarter, but Chicago made the shot.  On offense, Orien Greene made a nice pass inside to Borchardt, but he was fouled on the shot.  Tommy Heinsohn correctly pointed out that Borchardt tried to drop and gather for a shot, instead of going straight up as he received the ball. Orien's pass was exactly where it needed to be, and Borchardt's extra move allowed the defender to stop the shot.

One thing that bugged me, was that we suddenly heard a loud chant of "DEE-FENSE" from the Chicago crowd. It sounded canned, especially as this was a preseason game where their team had a double-digit lead in the final quarter with the benches on the floor. It was also a very coordinated chant with a lot of low voices, in fact, they all started and stopped at exactly the same moment.  Anyone who's been to a live event--game, concert, etc.--knows that real crowd noises tend to be higher-pitched, since higher voices carry better without amps to help them,  and it usually takes a few rounds for everyone to yell together. 

Oops.

That sort of thing annoys me.  I suspect someone in Boston does the same thing to augment crowd noise.  If so, I wish they'd stop it, as it's the crowd equivalent of lip-synching, assuming the crowd can't support their team sufficiently without a technological boost.

God knows, I yell loud enough at the game, and I'm watching it on tv.

So, please, techies in NBA venues everywhere, PLEASE, let us do our own yelling. If you want us to be louder, give us microphones and plug us into the sound system.

Meanwhile, Justin Reed continued his workmanlike offense.  If this carries over through the remaining preseason games, it'll be tough to cut him. 

Orien Greene made a nice pass to Gerald Green, though I think Gerald rushed his shot a little.  Gomes was in position for a rebound, but his man was too much taller.  Borchardt was late in getting back on that set.

Two minutes into the quarter, the scoring was even, with both teams having added four points, making it 96-81 Bulls,  Considering that Chicago was nailing threes, that meant our guys were working that much harder to keep the 4th quarter score even.

Gerald Green made a mistake as he drove the lane, picking the ball up and behind his head as he prepared to shoot.  Of course, he got stripped from behind, leading to a Bulls fast break.  But Justin Reed motored from behind to make the good foul, making Thomas earn it at the line. In fact, he made a VERY good effort to get the ball cleanly.

The kids are at the point where they sort of know what they should do on team defense, but it's not yet instinctive, and they haven't had a chance to really work together smoothly, so they're a step behind.  They did however, concentrate on trying to close the inside lanes, making the Bulls rely more on the outside shots.  Justin Reed is the Paul Pierce of this bunch as far as offense goes.  He can create a shot, within reason, and they're all passing in to him.  He works for high percentage shots, but is not afraid of the longer shots if the opportunity arises.

Orien Greene showed he can make the long upcourt passes with accuracy.  If I had to pick a bench unit right now, I'd have Orien Greene and Justin Reed working as a combo.  With 8:32 left in the game, The kids had outscored the Bulls 8-7 in the quarter, with the overall score now 99-85.

Gerald Green forced a turnover with tight defense and fast hands, though he nearly turned it over himself at the other end, trying to pass with his defender too close.  Shortly afterward, Will Bynum came in for Orien Greene.  With 7:49 left, the Bulls lead had actually dwindled to 13 points.  Since it was preseason, I actually wanted this group to stay out there, and see if they could go the distance.

Tony Brown must have peeked at the scoreboard, since Perkins came in to replace Borchardt. Perkins would be faster under the boards than Borchardt, and might be enough to generate some interior offense besides Reed.  Kendrick quickly went to work, drawing a foul as he went up, and proceeded to the free throw line.  He went one for two.

The C's defense was good, and Chicago missed from outside.  Will Bynum took a chance careening through the lane, and the call went somewhat his way.  Sadly it was only a possession foul--it really should have been score the basket and go for a third point at the line.  But, it's preseason for the refs, too.

However, on the inbounds play, Ryan Gomes was literally pulled down to the floor by his man, and the guy got caught.  And so, Ryan Gomes went to the free throw line for two, making one.

Please, guys, PRACTICE MAKING FREE THROWS,  Missing them WILL cost you cookies, I promise you.

As the Bulls ran downcourt, Tim Thomas bounced off Kendrick Perkins under the hoop, who wondered where Thomas had bounced off to, before someone pointed to the floor.  Afterward, we saw that the wobbly Thomas was seated at the end of the Bull's bench, possibly asking if anyone got the license number.  He recovered by the end of the timeout to make his free throws.

With 4:22 left in the game, the Bulls had pushed it back up to a 20 point lead, at 110-90, pretty well ending any realistic chance of the C's winning this game.  The remaining time was essentially status quo, with both teams concentrating on not making any dumb mistakes.  The game ended with the Bulls winning with a final score of 116-97.


COOKIES and CRUMBS:

Cookies go to:
Paul Pierce, for keeping his offense within the flow of the game, and only taking control when the Bulls clogged the passing lanes.
Mark Blount, for steady play
Justin Reed, another impressive night.
Orien Greene, for smart Point Guard play,
Kendrick Perkins, who's on his way to becoming a primo shotblocker, if he keeps at it.
Overall effort on offense and defense
CBW fans and all who read this review, especially as it was a day late in getting completed.  I was too sick to finish last night, and I apologize.

Crumbs left for:
Curtis Borchardt, who really needs to speed up his game.
The Celtics free throw shooting,  needs to be MUCH better from pretty well everyone.
Overall results on offense and defense.  The effort was there, but it needs work to be effective.
Dan Dickau.  I know it seems like I'm picking on him, but aside from one or two passes, he hasn't shown me he belongs in the NBA. I'll be happy to apologize, if only he can prove me wrong.

The C's now have a few days to sort things out, including learning what the deal is with Marcus Banks.  The next game is on Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm at the BOSTON GARDEN!!!!!  Radio listeners will be glad to hear the game on the C's new broadcast partner, WRKO 680 AM.

And that's the view from the doghouse.