Without Yao and Landry, streak ends to Celtics
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
by John
I’ve always felt if you’re going to lose a big game, it feels better to lose big. That way you don’t tear yourself up about how one play here or there could have been the difference in the ballgame. A good shellacking can also get you extra motivated to improve your weaknesses.
That’s what happened Tuesday night as Boston blew out the Rockets in the third quarter and cruised to a 94-74 victory.
The Celtics’ defense was outstanding on Tracy McGrady, who didn’t attack the rack much in this game like he had been doing during the streak.
McGrady gave major props after the game to their defense, coached ironically in part by former Rocket assistant coach and defensive stalwart Tom Thibodeau. I was impressed the Celtics decided to play McGrady one-on-one most of the time, with former Rocket (and one of my favorites) James Posey manning up against him far away from the basket.
You may remember Posey being instrumental to Miami’s championship run a couple of seasons ago. Regardless, it would have been nice to see McGrady take it strong to the hole and draw some fouls, even if they were going to be hard fouls.
Instead, he only took 11 shots (mainly jumpers) and only made 4 of them for 11 points.
This game made it clear that Yao Ming and Carl Landry’s absence in the paint hurts immensely.
I’ve always felt if you’re going to lose a big game, it feels better to lose big. That way you don’t tear yourself up about how one play here or there could have been the difference in the ballgame. A good shellacking can also get you extra motivated to improve your weaknesses.
That’s what happened Tuesday night as Boston blew out the Rockets in the third quarter and cruised to a 94-74 victory.
The Celtics’ defense was outstanding on Tracy McGrady, who didn’t attack the rack much in this game like he had been doing during the streak.
McGrady gave major props after the game to their defense, coached ironically in part by former Rocket assistant coach and defensive stalwart Tom Thibodeau. I was impressed the Celtics decided to play McGrady one-on-one most of the time, with former Rocket (and one of my favorites) James Posey manning up against him far away from the basket.
You may remember Posey being instrumental to Miami’s championship run a couple of seasons ago. Regardless, it would have been nice to see McGrady take it strong to the hole and draw some fouls, even if they were going to be hard fouls.
Instead, he only took 11 shots (mainly jumpers) and only made 4 of them for 11 points.
This game made it clear that Yao Ming and Carl Landry’s absence in the paint hurts immensely.
