http://www.nba.com/features/triangle_20080318.html D is for Dominant John Schuhmann Posted Mar 19 2008 2:30AM Celtics Snap Rockets’ 22-Game Win Streak Celtics 94, Rockets 74 (F) HOUSTON, March 18, 2008 -- It was the unstoppable force against the immovable object. You can choose which one the Celtics were, but they're the one that won the battle. Decidedly. The Houston Rockets' 22-game winning streak, the second longest streak in NBA history, is over. And it shouldn't be any surprise that it was the Boston Celtics who ended it. One night after coming back from 22 points down in San Antonio, the Celtics showed us that there is no doubt that they are the best team in basketball. The Celtics did it with defense. They're the best defensive team in the league after all. While they took control of the game with a huge offensive third quarter (their 32 points were the most the Rockets have allowed in a third period all season), their defense was stifling all night, never allowing Houston to make a run. It started with containing Tracy McGrady. The Rockets' star hit a few pull-up jumpers in the first quarter, shooting 3-for-7 and getting to the line twice in the opening 12 minutes. After that, the Celtics threw a blanket on him. In the final three quarters, McGrady shot 1-for-4 and never got to the line. That's right. Four shots and zero free throw attempts in 36 minutes of basketball. And it's not like McGrady wasn't getting the ball. He had the ball plenty. But Tony Allen and James Posey were in his shirt all night. "They just crowded him," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We told them, 'He's gonna make shots on you. You can't get down on that. But just make him make tough, contested shots.'" He didn't even do that. And it was because Allen and Posey had help. The Rockets like to free McGrady up with a high screen-and-roll, using one of their bigs. But the Boston bigs, namely Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe, did not allow him to get free, keeping him contained up top. "They just showed hard," Rivers explained. "We wanted Tracy, every time there was a pick-and-roll, to go away from the basket, and not turn the corner toward the basket. And I thought our bigs did a great job of showing. And then Tony and Pose fought through it to stay under." "He's a good player and he likes to pull up," Perkins added, "so you gotta come up in almost a trap, but not really a trap, just a contain. And I think our guards did a good job on him tonight." McGrady never got any space with which to operate. The Celtics forced him to get rid of the ball. And when you take the ball out of the hands of your opponent's best player, you're off to a good start. But the defense doesn't stop there. Because if McGrady is occupying two defenders, someone else is open. And the Rockets have plenty of shooters to take advantage of being open. But the Celtics didn't allow them to stay open for very long. The other three defenders on the floor were factors as well, rotating and getting to the shooters before they could get comfortable. Houston was just 5-for-19 from downtown, and that includes Aaron Brooks' 2-for-2 in garbage time. "I thought we did a terrific job of running them off shots," Rivers said. The Celtics didn't allow the Houston shooters to get in any kind of rhythm. But while containing McGrady and guarding the three point line are clearly priorities when you're playing Houston, the Celtics didn't change up their schemes just for this game. "We really didn't change anything that we've been doing all year defensively," Paul Pierce said. "We show high on pick-and-rolls, rotate, help the helper, and that's pretty much it." Pretty simple, except that there are 29 other teams who don't do it nearly as well. So, while you will note that Pierce and Kevin Garnett did their thing offensively and Powe (move over Ray Allen, there's a new member of the big three) scored 21 points (as sure of a sign there was that this was just their night), know that it was the Celtics' defense that won this game. "I've never seen defense like that," McGrady said. "I mean, if they play defense like that night in and night out, then the NBA is in trouble, because that was defense at its finest." Defense is why they're the best team in basketball, it's why they're the ones who ended the streak, and it's why you shouldn't be surprised if they're the ones holding the Larry O'Brien trophy come June.
No the Celtics' defense is not overrated. It's statistically the best in the league and I think that they showed just how good their D was last night in TC. Tom Thibodeau did a great job with the Celtics on their defense.
This is why we need a 3rd scorer who can create his own shot and shove the ball down the defense's throat. Make them pay for crowding McGrady
i was a little dissappointed... i wanted tmac to do something about it. maybe, a spin move, away from the double? or, just go one on one, for a little dribble penetration. but kudos, to boston's defense, for messing up our minds and our motion offense. they deserved to win.
I think the reason we lost is cause we were playing a small roster. That was a game I wish Yao was there. But yeah physically the Celtics dominated us in the paint. I kind of think they ran up the score towards the end. I mean they were up by double digits with like 2 minutes in the game and Garnett was still in there. I wish he got hurt right towards the end for doing that. I mean no offense to him, it just seemed kind of f***ed up. And yes statistically, the Celts do have the best defense in the NBA, but they have one of the weakest schedules (.490 according to ESPN's formula) in the league along with so many other Eastern Conference teams. If you look at it. The team that got stuck with the hardest schedule in the East is the Knicks (that mixed with Stephon and Isiah - no wonder they suck so bad). But back to the topic, thats why Celts have such a strong statistical defense. But they do play strong and they had a great game against us. Like I said before, I wish Yao was there in the paint for us. Or Landry would have helped to by bringing mad energy off the bench.
I have a different take on why we lost.. I think we lost because our game plan. For some reasons, our coaching staffs chose to slow the game down and rely on penetrations when Tmac was being containing. That, has proved ineffective due to the lack of low post present and Boston's strong interior defense. As we see, Lots of our turnovers last night were caused by trying to penetrate.. IMO, Boston is only strong on interior defense and their perimeter defense is just a little above average. So, if we focus on perimeter shooting and a fast game pace last night, it would gave us more offensive rebounds and make their interior defense inefficient...
no our offence is heavily P&R oriented since Yao went down. Its hard to get anything going with them defending the P&R so well.
like the other posters above, i'd venture to say it was a combination of a few things: - mcgrady didn't seem mentally "in" the game - we got wrecked in the paint by their bigs, see fouls (scola, mike, chuck) and rebounds (-18!) - our normally decent marksmen went cold, 26.3% from the arc our hope in this game was to stay within striking distance with the perimeter game and then eke it out in the end. i don't think anyone expected us to blow them out at all. boston played its game and simply just wore us out. it shouldn't really have been a surprise to anyone, which is what the general consensus seems to be. the ride was fun, here's to hoping our guys stay in high spirits.
RA did say that we should have pushed and moved the ball better. It's a combination of lots of issues, you''ve got to give credit their defense though. Check out the link below, their whole defense just collapsed on Tmac. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=hou
I thought RA needed to play Bobby Jackson a lot more. Rafer seemed rattled. Bobby was playing confident and under control.
I felt he was in the game He didn't force his shots. He played to the defence. They keyed on him all night. I think that clip the showed with him on the pick and roll is representative on what they did to seal him off on the drive. Alot of people are asking him to drive in with three bodies in the key waiting for him to drive. If anything he should have tried to force a few jump shots from the top of the 3 point line to try and get his shot going. He wasn't able to drive or post up two things that were a BIG part of our offence. Normally a double team coverage on his posts up would mean that he could pass or dish to an open man but KG wraps up the zone so well his passes are pretty much hard to get. We talk about T-mac's vision from anywhere but with a long KG blocking the way its hard. Our shooters needed to punish them for doubling and tripling on him so hard. If that happened he would have gotton easier shots. I don't get why people are complaining so hard. What do you want for him to force and jack shots up? I remember someone else doing that to us not so long ago and he went 11-30 and lost the game.
very nice article. boston's defense really was outstanding. you've got to give them (or should i say tom thibodeau?) credit for that. plus, they've had to much size for us to handle. we missed carl landry very much.
Why Adelman didn't put Jackson in early in the 3rd quarter is the biggest question mark coming out of last night. Waiting until 9 minutes were left in the game and things already out of hand was a dumb decision. Can someone try to explain this?
sitting Bobby Jackson when he was on fire didn't help none either. I dunno if coach A. is saving team energy, or he doesn't like hot shooters on the night. But sitting B. Jax for a considerable amount of time while he had a hot hand is not what I like to see. I would like to see more rotation with TMac setting up at PG while Harris, Head, and Hayes are leading the backcourt. We need to see more ball movement tonight unlike the Celtics game where everyone was scared to move it around fearing a TO. Free Throw Shooting needs to improve. IMO, thats why our team started slumping against the Celtics in the third. Free Throws generate energy, and the Rockets need every little thing that helps in that department.
It'll be interesting to see how the games goes next year when Yao gets back. The media was sort of blinded by the last 10 in a row, and didn't really take into account that the first 12 games of the streak were with Yao; Boston was playing a Houston team essentially on a 10-game winning streak, a much different Rockets team than the one that went on the 12-game streak to begin the 22 in a row.
There is no excuse for Jackson to not have played more. Adelman just screwed up and would probably admit that if asked. I really think it is that simple.
And not only was Yao out, so was Landry. I'd say with Landry and Yao we'd play Boston pretty good. What we have now with the Rockets is like what LA is doing without Bynum and Gasol, except I'd rather have Landy and Yao than B & G.
