At least that’s what I keep telling myself.  Despite the sudden surge in offense against a team they should have worked over anyway, the Celtics still scare me and that is a problem.  Not so much that they scare me, but moreover that they don’t really scare anyone else right now.

Sunday’s game against Cleveland will go a long way into alleviating my fears and instilling some into the teams that have written them off as over the hill has-beens.  I’m not expecting miracles here, I just want Boston to keep it close.  I couldn’t imagine uttering those words at the beginning of the season but the reality of the situation has set in.  The Celtic’s window of opportunity is closing rapidly and to the point that I don’t know if they can even reach the 55 win mark on the season.

With LeBron looking stronger than ever and Antawn Jamison really asserting himself into the offense it is going to be hard for the C’s to pay attention to both players if they hang around the paint.  Boston needs to be physical on the block on both ends of the floor to even have a chance.  Running shooters off the three point line is also going to be a necessity with their plethora of sharpshooters.

What this really will test is the makeup of the bench.  After a good productive game they usually tend to slack off.  This is why Ainge traded for Robinson, to give that second unit a spark every night.  Unfortunately, he has been miss-firing intermittently and hasn’t been the offensive injection he was made out to be, despite some nice nights.  I’m still bitter about that trade.

At least they are playing in the Cleve.  Yes, you read that right.  Boston is the only division leader that has more road wins than home.  They are also the only leader that has more home losses then road losses.  Pretty weak in my book.  Whatever works though, right?  Right?

A win for me will be a loss by less than ten points.  Pessimistic?  Hell yes.  Until Boston can show me that they can play with the intensity they displayed against the Pacers when they play elite teams, I will be happy with a moral victory.

Man, I feel like that last line could have been written by a Nets fan.  Gross.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Something needs to be done to shake things up and not necessarily on the court.  These guys need to get whatever garbage there is floating around in their domes straightened out.  I’m not talking about going on a camping trip to find themselves or anything but maybe get a C’s legend to give a speech or show that comeback against the Lakers in the ’07-08 playoffs where they didn’t give up.

At any rate, the Pacers have had Boston’s number in recent years for whatever reason.  Maybe it’s the ghost of Jim O’Brien.  Maybe there is some left over karma from Reggie clowning the C’s all those years.  Whatever it may be, I hope Boston has it in them to crush Indiana.

Danny Granger will be returning from his one game suspension from his tet-a-tet with Channing Frye so he’ll be rested and ready to do his usual damage of about 23 PPG. Brandon Rush got loose during Granger’s sit out with 24 PTS against the 76ers so he could pose a problem for the second unit that doesn’t really play one-on-one D well outside of Tony Allen who hasn’t been used much as of late.  Marquise plays alright defense but he isn’t as distracting/effective as a crazy legged TA.

What really concerns me is that Boston is not going inside nearly enough.  The only person who should take the majority of his shots from more than 15 feet is Ray.  Paul has been making some diving runs down the lane but isn’t finishing strong like he used to do.  Perkins needs to do one of two things; be more effective on the defensive end or fix his line-drive baby hook on the offensive side.  He is quickly turning into an Erick Dampier type center and that is not good for anyone.

If Gang Green can recover from their pummeling, take the standing eight and wipe off the gloves it will be not only a “W” in the record books but on the mental aspect of the game, too.  I don’t know how many more losses to non-playoff teams I can take.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Andrew Bogut, Australia.  Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Cameroon.  Carlos Delfino, Argentina.  Ersan Ilyasova, Turkey.  Primoz Brezec, Yugoslavia.  Dan Gadzuric, the Netherlands.  That is six of their fifteen allotted players or 40 percent of their team.  Not one of them is from the same country, either.  That must make communication hell.

Although, the Celtics communication has been lacking lately and they have all US born players.  Boston needs to keep the Bucks from jumping all over them early as they have tended to come into these contests flat.  The Celtics squeaked out an uncomfortable win in their last meeting in Boston but that was with Kevin Garnett on fire and carrying the team with his 25 points.  I’m not saying that they are going to have a hard time but they can’t let bad teams hang around.

Rondo needs to assert himself every time he is on the floor.   Laying back for a quarter or even a half at a time is not going to get the job done especially with his backup being the streaky Nathan Robinson (rather than the streaky Eddie House).

Paul Pierce had been playing steady ball the past few games and hopefully that will rub off on KG who struggled on Sunday.  I would look to see the Celtics run plays for Kage to get him going early.  This would also be an ideal game to start getting Shelden Williams some minutes to get him back into the thick of things after playing a strong 16 minutes against Detroit.  Since that game, Doc has run his minutes back down to zero.  I can almost see the logic there.  Build him up with a 3-4 night with 4 REBS (2 OREBS) and then shove Scal out there to jack up air balls and look like fat Bambi on ice.  It makes sense.  Oh wait, no it doesn’t.

I just hope Boston can keep this little momentum swing up long enough to miss the Hawks in the playoffs.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Paul Pierce may be returning to the lineup but Kendrick Perkins will be out sick.  Will anyone really notice though with the recent play of the angry big man?  Kendrick has been averaging 8.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG for the past five contests, not exactly stellar numbers for a starting center.  To be fair, Doc has been jerking his minutes around like crazy, playing between 18 and 28 minutes a game.

The C’s need to start doing work in the paint and create contact to get to the line more since 11 FTA is clearly not going to cut it.  Teams have been beating up the Celtics both mentally and physically by jumping all over them early in the game and then banging down low.

Coach Rivers continues to be befuddled when trying to figure out productive rotations and is leaning way too heavily on Rasheed Wallace off the bench who hasn’t scored in double digits since the first game back from the All Star break.  Something needs to be done with the rotations and have set teams so they can be cohesive heading into the playoffs.

Rip Hamilton is leading the floundering Pistons with 22 PPG during their current three game losing streak that may or may not continue against Boston.  My money is on “may not” with the atrocious play that I witnessed against the Nets.

Other than Rip, the Pistons are a bunch of underachievers and dudes past their prime.  If the Celtics fail to beat them I will predict a 5 game exit from the first round of the playoffs.  I feel like Jim Mora right now even uttering that word.

If Boston wants to be viewed as a threat they need to pull themselves up by the boot straps and start beating down teams that are vastly inferior to them, I just don’t know if they have the will (or the coaching) to accomplish that.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Paul Pierce has the flu on top of his sprained thumb. His scoring average has dipped below 18 PPG for the first time since he was a rookie and has been oddly ineffective for stretches of games.  Marquise Daniels also has the flu (thanks for bringing that garbage over, Nathan) and Boston will be extremely thin at the small forward position and that means more Scalabrine. Ugh.

Meanwhile, LeBitch James is averaging a shade under 30 PPG and is two full APG above his career average.  If James has any thoughts on the end of season moves it’s not showing in his game.  Not that it should, he’s obviously going to get a max deal wherever he goes and then some.

Antawn Jamison was off to a shaky start after making the transition to Cleveland but has picked up the last couple games with 19 and 18 PTS respectively.  Speaking of shaky starts, Nathan Robinson.  That’s it.

What?

Anyway, Rajon Rondo has been in and out of games mentally at some points.  He has been making some lackadaisical passes thinking that just because he is capable of making spectacular plays that they will just happen.  Unfortunately for him (and the turnover stat) it doesn’t work like that.  If Rondo can play a smart game with minimal turnovers while getting about 15 PTS, I think that he will be the key for the Celtics success.

Ray Allen has been the Ray-Ray of old as of late with a 23.5 PPG rate in the last four games.  Ray is having some sense of security after not being shipped out before the deadline and it’s been apparent by his aggressive play.  Allen has been cold from beyond the arc but has transitioned to making in cuts for layups and even turning a few over for flushes.

This is definitely not a matchup between the same two teams that played the first game of the season but for better or for worse this will be a huge measuring stick for the Celtics, with 26 games remaining in the season, and they still have to play the Cavs twice after this game.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

At any rate, there is game to be played.  It is the first of nice three game home stand with a break between each game.  The Knicks have been horrible for a long time but the Celtics have developed a habit of playing down to their opponents.

David Lee has taken over the top spot in scoring average among centers with 20.3 PPG to go along with 11.4 RPG.  He has quietly turned into a legit center among the fuss over Dwight Howard and the like.  Averaging a double-double is no joke.  Perkins will have his hands full on the defensive end but Lee isn’t exactly a threat to Perk’s offense since the dude is only 6’ 9”.

Tracy McGrady started out hot for the Knicks after not playing a game in a year and a half when he dropped 26 PTS in a loss to Oklahoma while shooting 10-17 from the field.  If T Mac can give New York anything like that on a consistent basis he’ll make a good case for them to resign him at the end of the season while they go after a max contract player.

If I were Doc, I’d punch myself in the face.  After I did that, I’d tell Pierce to rock a three piece for a couple of games to give his broke ass hand some time to heal up.  2-10 isn’t helping anyone and it’s time Doc puts his foot down and sits a guy for his own health.

Ray Allen has had the hot hand since the break and has really been the only consistent scoring threat with nice contributions from KG and sporadic bench points.  They still need to get a handle on the free throws and Rondo needs to be a little more aggressive throughout the game but they shouldn’t have too much of a problem with New York.

Unless House comes back to haunt the Garden.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Ahh, but yes, there is still a game to be played among all the drama.  Let’s take a peek at the match-ups.

Tyreke Evans (possibly the only mortal lock for rookie of the year ever) is averaging a crazy 20.3 PPG and just over 5 APG running the point for Sac Town.  Having Rondo match-up with him will definitely make it the pair to watch throughout the night (or morning on the East coast).  Rajon is fresh of his bewildering three point prowess during the HORSE game in Dallas.  Seriously, where was he finding that range from?  Then again, he did get jobbed at the end when it was a purely three point game and he was up against the Durantula but that is for another day.

Kevin Martin is who fans in green want to keep an eye on to see what could be or that which never was.  Martin is averaging 20.8 PPG and shooting about 36 percent from down town.  Since it is sort of a showcase game I expect for Ray Allen to get a healthy dose of screens that he can come off and pop some jumpers.  I really don’t see Ray playing much D for this game and the Celtics really must start off this West coast trip with a W after the drubbing they took the last swing out there.

Donte Greene is another one of the Kings starters with less than 3 years in the league.  Of the starting five, only Martin has five years experience.  Donte is sort of a non factor at the 3 and is only contributing 9 PPG and a few rebounds.  A healthy Paul Pierce riding high off of his three point shootout win will probably be eager to display his deep ball early against the taller Greene.

Jason Thompson’s natural position is at center with his 6’ 11” frame but with the 7’ 1” Spencer Hawes patrolling the paint he is relegated to the power forward position.  He’s running at a 13 PPG, 8.7 RPG clip and is a good looking prospect out of Rider.  Kevin Garnett is on a bit of a cold stretch as of late but if he can elevate he will have no problem shooting the turnaround over Thompson.

As mentioned, Spencer Hawes is the center and though he is about four inches taller than Perkins, Perk has almost forty pounds of weight on ol’ Spence.  Hawes isn’t exactly lighting things up in the middle but as I wrote about earlier, neither is Perkins.  I would hope the Kendrick would get over on the young kid but I’m not comfortable with his play.

Ultimately I think this is going to be a close game in the high 90’s.  With the long break you would think that the starters would be rested but Rondo, Pierce and Garnett participated in the All Star game.  Let’s hope that contributes more to lack of rust rather than lack of legs.

Lee Herman covers the NBA and Boston Celtics for North Station Sports.
Find more of his great work here.

Darren Collison is not a rookie PG to be slept on, so Paul being out is not exactly a God send.  Despite averaging only 8 PPG on the year, Collison has been pouring it on in the last three games with a 22.7 PPG average and a season high 27 PTS against the Magic in a loss.  I haven’t seen him enough to rate his defense but allowing 123 PTS to the Magic points to a general lack of D.

Someone named Morris Peterson is their two guard and is blistering the basket with a 4.9 PPG tally.  If Ray has trouble with this dude, he should be traded.  Let’s hope I didn’t just jinx him and Peterson blows up for 43 on Jesus.

Peja Effing Stojakovic will be patrolling the perimeter and looking to get loose with some threes and maybe a drive or two to the rack.  He isn’t exactly shooting the lights out but is still a pain if he starts feeling it from deep since it is hard to get a hand in his 6’ 10” face, especially when left alone as Boston has tended to do.  Pierce is questionable for the game but usually abuses the slower Peja on the way to 20 point nights.

David West is probably the Hornets best player with Chris Paul out and is averaging 18 PPG.  KG should be able to handle to undersized PF who is only 6’ 9”.  How Peja is 6’ 10” and playing SF and West at PF can only be a weight thing.  At any rate, if Garnett is feeling healthy and not dragging his broken wheel around he should be able to get over on West for his trademark drop step fade away.

The big question for me is how Kendrick Perkins will handle Emeka Okafor.  Perk has been playing some weak ball inside and doesn’t seem to be his usual angry self while banging down low.  If Okafor outplays Perk I think it’s time for an intervention to see what Kendrick is on.

Come home, Perk.  Come home.