Celtics Starting To Take Championship Form
October 12, 2009 by Nick Gelso
With the Boston sports world focused on the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots, NBA preseason often goes by with little coverage. You don’t have to worry about that here. We don’t miss a beat!
The story during preseason is most often not the games, who wins or loses, but more so the chemistry that the team is gaining. Preseason is just a teaser for what is to occur opening night, in our case October 27th is Cleveland.
If preseason is to indicate what’s to follow, Celtics opponents better be bracing themselves for challenge possibly greater then the one they faced during the 2008 championship campaign.
Thus far, in the 2009-2010 preseason, the Boston Celtics are 2-1. They dropped their first game to Houston and have now won two consecutive games against the Knicks and Nets.
Though, overall, the play has been sloppy in typical preseason fashion, the Celtics have morphed into a championship caliber team with every exhibition game played.
Yesterday’s match up against the Nets showed the greatest revelations since training camp began.
Paul Pierce can still play (25 points, 29 minutes, 8-12 from the field, 7-8 from the line, 3 assists).
Eddie House is still instant offense (13 points, 3-6 from downtown).
Kevin Garnett continues to improve. He played 20 minutes and scored 12 points (6-8 from the field), with 6 rebounds. Most importantly, Garnett seems less tentative with every game. Garnett is still being hampered by shin splint and calf pain, said to be no side effect from his knee surgery.
Garnett was asked what he did better yesterday, the Ticket responded:
“Sprint. I thought today I got up and down. I tried to put the pressure on their defense to get in the middle, call for the ball. As far as being aggressive, this is probably the most aggressive I’ve been since I’ve come back and play. Reaction time was a lot better, a lot faster. My gait’s getting better and better. I’m getting stronger; I can feel it. I can see it. You know, confidence is growing every time I step on the floor, and that includes practice.”
Glad to hear more comments from KG stating that his recovery is on schedule. Hopefully soon “Tendon-GAIT” is a story of the past.
Check out the highlights, interview with Doc and KG, PP’s post game presser below.
(Courtesy of Celtics.com)
(Courtesy of NBA.com)
As you can see above, KG displays a “Kevin McHale-like” move but is still favoring that right leg. Whether it’s the knee or the calf related issues, we do not know but KG still has to be in some pain. Hate to be a downer but it’s obvious in the above clip that Garnett is still not moving naturally.
Also to note above, Rasheed’s defensive presense in the middle is clear. Glad to have him.
What should we do next?
Well, since you’ve made it to the end of this post, you might be interested in these related articles and resources.
Did you love this post?
Then please share it!
