The SLReport: February 2011

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Nate Robinson: Eddie House 2.0?

The Celtics are getting a lot of praise for their regular season so far, and deservedly so. As they head into the All-Star Break they have the 2^nd best record in the NBA at 40-14. At the break last season the Celtics were well into their post-Christmas swoon, posting a record of 32-18, and had the city of Boston entering panic mode.

One of the targets of criticism was Eddie House. A cult hero from the 2008 championship run, House had his fair share of struggles in the first 50 games of the season before his eventual trade to the Knicks. He was suffering from his worst shooting season in his Celtics tenure and it was determined that he needed to be cut loose.

Who was the player acquired in that deal with the Knicks? None other than Nate Robinson.

To put it bluntly, Nate Robinson has been the turd in the punch bowl of this otherwise impressive Celtics season. And, remarkably, it has gone seemingly unnoticed. Praise has been heaped on this Celtics team for returning to their Ubuntu ways and caring about the regular season again. It is all well-deserved, but I find it surprising that Robinson’s woes have been so easily swept under the rug.

For comparison’s sake here are House’s numbers in his 50 games with Boston last season and Robinson’s numbers so far this season:

House: 17 MPG, 7.2 PPG, 1 APG, 40.1 FG%, 38.3 3 PT% (50 games)

Robinson: 18 MPG, 7.1 PPG, 1.9 APG, 40.6 FG%, 33.5 3PT% (53 games)

Early in the season the argument was made that Nate would improve once Delonte West returned to the lineup to handle running the offense for the second unit. Obviously with his wrist injury that has not happened, but Nate has not been handling the ball as much even with West’s continued absence. The Celtics have run the offense through Pierce a lot when he is out with the second unit, and Robinson has even been paired with Rondo at times, yet the struggles continue. He has only connected on only 2 three-pointers in the month of February and they both came in the Dallas game on February 4.

If Marquis Daniels cannot return for the playoffs then Danny Ainge’s priority needs to be finding a swing man for the stretch run. The Celtics do not have enough assets to pull off deals for both a swing man and a replacement for Nate. There may not even be a viable option when buyouts begin to occur after the deadline. But come playoff time I would not be surprised to see Nate back where he spent much of last year’s playoffs: on the bench. Get well soon Delonte!

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Rondo to the Rescue Again

The stat line doesn’t jump off the page: 11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. We have seen Rajon Rondo attain triple-doubles in the past, many on much bigger stages. Amazingly a 10 assist game has become ho-hum for the budding superstar. But make no mistake about it, the Celtics would not have clinched the season series with the Heat today without Rondo.

The Celtics seemed to be lacking the energy they have typically brought to big games this season. Assigned the task of setting a tempo and dragging his sluggish teammates along with him Rondo completely turned the game around in the pivotal third quarter. He came out aggressive offensively to start the half, which Doc Rivers has been begging him to do. On their first four possessions of the quarter Rondo drew a shooting foul, assisted on a Kendrick Perkins bucket, and scored on a fast break layup while drawing the foul. The fact that he missed two of the three free throws was irrelevant; the tone had been set for the half and the rest of the Celtics followed his lead. All in all Rondo notched 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in the quarter.

As significant as his contributions were on the offensive end, Rondo may have put his biggest stamp on the game on the defensive end of the floor. He garnered the most attention for his defense on LeBron James, but he was all over the court. He did an excellent job of pressuring the ball in the backcourt and forced the Heat to get into their offense later in the shot clock. He seemed to spend the majority of the quarter on James, but he could be seen chasing Dwyane Wade, Mike Miller, and Eddie House around at different points as well. His efforts took Miami out of their rhythm, as Boston exploded for a 20-3 run out of the locker room on their way to a 35-18 advantage in the third.

The Celtics hold a 3-0 advantage over Miami in the season series. They now possess the trump card over the Heat in any tiebreaker scenario for home court or seeding come playoff time. The Heat had to feel confident coming into the game, having won 8 straight and knowing they had a vulnerable team on a 2 game losing skid staring back at them. Playing with 7 available bodies (Nate Robinson was only able to give them 5 first half minutes) and an ailing and banged up Paul Pierce (0-10 shooting for the game), the defending conference champs had every reason to fold and limp into the All-Star Break hoping to regain their health and swagger. Instead their all-star point guard willed them to victory and showed Miami that the road to the Finals in the East still goes through Boston.

P.S. Credit to Teddy Sellers for the blog name