The Morning Walkthrough: Celtics not as good as two years ago?

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn't mean we have to.  Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day. 

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe - The Celtics cannot possibly be as good as they were two years ago. How could they be? The key players weren’t exactly athletically young then, and they’re all two years older now. Factoring Wallace into the mix, four of their first six players are 32 or older, and the seventh guy, Eddie House, is 31. Fortunately, they have a powerful young (and ever-improving) big man in Kendrick Perkins and a dynamic young point guard in Rajon Rondo, but they ultimately depend on older players to be as good as players their age can be, and that places a tremendous responsibility on the coach to manage team affairs as efficiently and intelligently as possible.

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston - "I like taking shots, it's just when you play with guys that are great at what they do, it's my job to distribute the ball," said Rondo. "I'm a pass-first guard. Probably pass second and shoot third. That's how I play. I'd rather get an assist than score with the ball. I shoot when I have to or I feel the need to. Other than that, I'm fine with getting Ray [Allen] the ball, Paul Pierce, or Eddie House. I've got great shooters."  But as Rondo has shown at numerous times this season, he's capable of taking a game over offensively, and not just by distributing the ball.  Take Tuesday, for example. Not only did Rondo score all of his points in the pivotal fourth quarter (the game was tied at 71 after three), but he also registered three assists, which means he was directly involved in 19 of the Celtics' 27 points in that period.  While much of the pregame chatter was about Milwaukee rookie Brandon Jennings (17 points on 7-of-19 shooting) and his prolific offensive numbers, Rondo stole the show.

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE - After being scoreless through three quarters, Rondo seemed to channel his inner Paul Pierce in the fourth, looking to not just penetrate the lane but also finish around the basket.  There appeared to be little Jennings could do, even though the rookie has already proven to have the speed to hold his own with most NBA playmakers.  But there's speed, and then there's Rondo's  jet-booster-pack-in-the-sole-of-his-sneakers speed.  He was blowing past Jennings off the dribble and into the lane all night, but frequently passed on potential lay-ups to instead kick it out to a teammate for an easy jumper or possible lay-up.  That all changed in the fourth quarter.  That's when Rondo became a scorer, not only from the field but also from the free throw line.

Zach Lowe, Celtics Hub - Within two minutes of entering the game for the first time, TA bullied Carlos Delfino under the rim, received the ball, fooled Delfino with a shot fake and drew a shooting foul.  And in that moment, I was thinking: “Yes! This is exactly what the C’s need from TA. The team doesn’t draw a lot of fouls, and that’s one thing he’s good at and oh my freaking god he’s about to convert this into an And-1!”  And then he missed a relatively clean lay-up. Didn’t even graze the rim. Then he missed both free throws.  Throw in a classic TA charging foul on an out-of-control fast break drive, and I officially ran through a season’s worth of the Seven Stages of TA in six minutes of playing time.

Frank Madden, BrewHoop - Unfortunately, in crunch time the Celtics simply played like the Celtics.  And the Bucks, well, they played like you'd expect the Bucks to play on the road against the league's best defense.  After Delfino found Ilyasova surprisingly open for a layup to tie it at 86, Rondo (40% ft shooting coming in) hit a pair of freebies and stuck a mid-range jumper shortly thereafter.  It was the capper on a big quarter for Rondo, who scored all 11 of his points in the decisive period, including 5/7 from the stripe.  Bogut then turned it over on consecutive possessions, and Garnett dumped a righty hook over Ilyasova to extend the Boston to lead to 93-86.  Ballgame.

Jeremy, Bucksketball - Yes, playing hard is great and coming close against the Celtics is fun, but ultimately losing sucks.  While this game wasn’t nearly as frustrating as the Cleveland Blowout last Sunday, it wasn’t very satisfying to see the Bucks put it together when they needed it most.  If they got a stop, they couldn’t get a bucket.  If they got a bucket, they couldn’t get a stop.  Ultimately they blew it over a two and a half minute stretch in the fourth.  The most difficult thing to swallow about this stretch is the Bucks inability to even get a shot up.  Two turnovers by Andrew Bogut and one from Brandon Jennings. That’s the just the strength of the Celtic defense.

Chris Forsberg (again), ESPNBoston - Celtics forward Kevin Garnett put together another brilliant game Tuesday night, scoring a team-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds as Boston topped the Bucks, 98-89, at TD Garden.  And while Garnett, who shot 90.9 percent while connecting on 10 of 11 shots in a win over Oklahoma City on Friday, admitted he's shooting the ball particularly well right now, he's hardly conscious of it.  “Really I’m not even paying attention to my shot," said Garnett. "I just know it feels good. I feel great, I feel a lot more explosive. Everything I’m doing in the course of the offense is nothing sparkly, it's nothing shiny, it's nothing glossy. I’m just going out there trying to get chances to score, opportunities to be effective. I’m trying to take advantage of them. Other than that, my mindset is more defensive than offensive right now. I'm not even thinking about the offensive end, to be honest with you.

Tom Halzack, CelticsBlog - The 4th Quarter was the Difference.  After losing Jennings on a screen on the left side, Rajon drove and scored his first basket of the game with a little jump shot on a beautiful spin move in the paint. That made the score 75-73.  The next time down the floor, the Celtics moved the ball around with Scalabrine passing up a three and driving and kicking out to Sheed for a three that energized the house. Score 78-73.  Jennings drives to make it 78-75, but Pierce kicks it out to Rasheed for another three to make it 81-75.  The Bucks come back to tie it at 86 all on an Ilyasova lay-up, before Charlie Bell fouls Rondo on what Doc Rivers called Hack-a-Rondo.

Boston Celtics-Milwaukee Bucks game preview

I've already written a piece about the game tonight, so instead of writing a full-fledged column here, I'm just going to give you a list of four things to look for in tonight's game:

1. Brandon Jennings vs. Rajon Rondo - I don't really need to say more, but of course I'm going to.  Quickness.  Speed.  Playmaking.  Rising stars.  Potential All-Stars.  The future of these two teams.  Is any of that enough to entice you to watch this one?

2. The disappearing Andrew Bogut - For a while, when the Bucks were going good, it looked like Bogut himself might be an All-Star.  He was putting up double-doubles every game and being the physical presence the Bucks needed every time out.  Now, he's regressed so much recently that coach Scott Skiles has said Bogut goes into certain games thinking he can't play well against a certain opponent.  Not exactly the attitude you want out of your starting center.  (And especially not out of a starting center you drafted ahead of Chris Paul.)

By the way, an interesting tidbit on Bogut: ESPN the Magazine's John Gustafson once wrote of Bogut, "To be fair, while he shoots with the touch of Vlade Divac and passes with the grace of Arvydas Sabonis, he's a superior athlete to both."  Uhh, John?  Once you return from drug rehab, do you want to add that he gets scared to play against good centers?

3. Celtics at home - For whatever reason, the Celtics have really struggled at home so far this season.  They have gotten off to bad starts, played poorly for long portions of the game, and acted like home is certainly not where the heart is.  We'll see tonight if their recent good play is confined only to the road, or whether it will cross over to Boston.

4. Who plays Marquis Daniels' minutes - With 'Quisy out with an injury, somebody's going to be called on to fill in for him.  If you see a man drop to his knees, screaming at the heavens, "Please, please, please don't let it be Tony Allen," that's me.

Andrew Bogut and Milwaukee Bucks feeling little confidence as they head to Boston

Via the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

Doubts are starting to creep into the minds of Milwaukee Bucks players.


It's only natural the team's confidence would sag a bit as it has lost seven of the last eight games following an exciting 8-3 start.

But Bucks coach Scott Skiles addressed the issue at Monday's practice session and told his players that too much contemplation could be counterproductive.

"We're not thinking properly about it," Skiles said. "Confidence has to come first. You can't be out there in a game feeling unsure about yourself."

Feeling unsure about yourself certainly isn't the way to feel heading into a matchup with a 16-4 championship contender on a 7-game winning streak.  The Bucks are struggling recently, losing a lot of games, and noone on their team has performed as poorly -- relative to expectations -- as Andrew Bogut:

Bucks center Andrew Bogut has struggled in the last three games after a 22-point, 15-rebound showing against the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 30. Bogut excelled in his return from a lower leg injury and blocked two shots late in the game to help preserve the Bucks' 99-97 victory over the Bulls.


But he could not duplicate that effort while matching up against Washington's Brendan Haywood, Detroit's Ben Wallace and Cleveland's Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

"He has to play with much more of a swagger, much more confidence than he currently plays with," Skiles said. "Now he does in some games.

"It's got to become more consistent. He's got to establish himself in every game and let the other team feel that he's out there. Sometimes it will be by scoring the ball. Other times it will be getting big rebounds or whatever it is.

"He can't predetermine and think 'I'm playing against a guy I've struggled against before.' He's just got to bring it every night. And he's good enough that when he does, he's very good."

It's odd Bogut has played so badly recently, because he's actually having a damn good season.  He's very near a double-double average (14.6 ppg and 9.1 rpg), to go along with 1.8 bpg, and had started to establish himself as one of the Eastern Conference's top centers before stumbling in his past few games and having Scott Skiles discuss his lack of confidence.

It's too bad for Bogut he has to try to revive himself from his early-season slumber against Kendrick Perkins and the stout C's interior defense.  (Note: It's weird saying "Kendrick Perkins and the C's defense" rather than "Kevin Garnett and the C's defense", but that's how good Perk has been this season.  If you ask me, he's NBA All-Defense, no doubt.)  If Bogut is still struggling with his confidence -- and, really, even if he isn't -- tonight could be a long night against the long, mobile and talented Celtics frontcourt.