Posts tagged ‘Sam Cassell’

In today’s episode of Celticscast…No Starting Five, just some C’s talk as Game Six comes up against the Cavs

93-91 Celtics at San Antonio: Make it two straight: two straight on the roadtrip, two straight against the Spurs this year, two straight W’s without Ray Allen and two straight wins on St. Patrick’s Day at San Antonio. Some quick thoughts:

KG threw the ball away up two with 4.5 seconds left and ‘Big Shot Bob’ missed an impossible fall away three with two guys in his face from 27 feet out on the right wing. Two things Kevin: A: call a timeout, please! or B: run the baseline! After Parker’s made hoop run the baseline and at the veerrry least throw it 60 feet so that the Spurs can’t get a good look.

Very interesting to see Doc’s substitution patterns at point guard down the stretch. Cassell played it out all the way and was joined by House for most of the way until Rondo checked in with about 1:15 left. Incidentally, Cassell hit a 22 footer and a huge 3 to give the C’s the lead with 48 seconds left, House hit a clutch 3 while in (his only FG) and Rondo came up with a big offensive rebound with the Celts up two with 15 seconds left.

The Spurs did a great job at stepping out and preventing Garnett from having open 20 foot jump shots. the numbers: 7-15 FG, 21 pts, 8 reb. but only 2 assists because there was a guy in his face. Conversely, the C’s defense was much much more solid after the first quarter. I think SA had as many open jumpers in the first that they did the rest of the game.

James Posey became what Tony Allen was supposed to be when TA started: a good defender and a guy to move the offense. Allen did neither and the Celts were down 20 in the first half. And yet Celtics win. Other online commentary from this game: celticsblog.com, greenbandwagon.com and Pounding the Rock (spurs blog).

Cheers!

Apparently episode #41 has been held up somewhere on the internet and despite being uploaded to our website - it’s still not there. We apologize for the delay, it’s frustrating because there was a lot of punch to that show headed into the weekend - but hopefully things are up and working again for our next show to recap the pair of games.

Speaking of game 2 of the weekend pair (since we won’t focus on that worst deficit of the season right now), this was what the Celtics needed headed into a murderous week of opponents - an easy victory. Ray Allen didn’t play, but if it was a playoff game, methinks he would have. Yet, the Bucks showed very little fight after the first quarter and the C’s did what they do best - put them away. A maximum of 27 minutes for any of the starters (Posey’s 29 mins were the most of any player). Also, Sam Cassell was the first off the bench today replacing Rondo and immediately had an impact - a good sign against a bad team, now let’s see if he can do it later this trip. San Antonio up next Monday, then the Rockets, then Mavs, then Hornets - should be exciting. Many are making a big deal about Rondo’s matchups (Tony Parker, Rafer Alston, JKidd and then CP3 Chris Paul), but this shows just how important Cassell will be this week to give Rondo a break and keep the intensity up.

Also, anybody hoping that if somehow Illinois and Georgia both make the tourney that they both get thrown into the playoff game? It would only be fair I think…

Cheers!

6 PM - that’s when Cassell should clear waivers and sign soonafter with the Celtics - maybe even in time to get him in town for the matchup with Detroit on Wednesday…Here’s a Globe recap of the affair. Interesting (and good) to see Rondo’s not holding any grudges for the slap he got from Cassell earlier in the year that got Sam kicked out of the game. What’s funny on youtube - the top video you get when you search for Cassell is a huge mistake in the ‘06 playoffs - the popular 8 second violation!

The Atlanta game last night just didn’t do it for me - maybe it was the 7 basketball games I had already watched that weekend with the crowd intensity of March (as Gus Johnson realized in the last seconds of the Georgetown/Marquette game “it’s the first day of March!”) or maybe it was that awkward 6 PM start time or maybe that the Celtics seemingly had control for most of the game but just couldn’t pull away…For me, March is definitely college hoops time - I just wish I could root for my teams (Syracuse, Holy Cross) once it started instead of hoping for some kind of crazy run just to make it.

This happened after our latest show throwing what we said about Cassell into irrelevance almost immediately after it went online - but the rest is good! The door is now open. Cassell was waived by the Clippers yesterday beating the March 1st deadline so as long as he clears waivers, the C’s can go pick him up and use him in the playoffs. Marc Spears has a great look at the situation as always if you didn’t catch it in the Globe today. So held on the inside (PJ Brown) and help at the point (Cassell) - now the question is how much will they play and what does it mean for House, T. Allen, Powe and Big Baby’s minutes?

In today’s episode of Celticscast…

The Starting 5

• C’s down Cavs in return back to Boston
• LeBron makes history but doesn’t light it up
• PJ Brown’s a Celtic
• When will Sam Cassell be? ever?
• Celtics hammer the Clippers to finish west coast swing

Plus…

• Send us your thoughts at hosts@celticscast.com. We don’t avoid any emails here so you can get your voice heard.
• What if the Celtics played in the West? How good would they be?
• Yao Ming’s done - we include our two cents.

And…

• Wayne Soares of The Sportsfan joins us to talk some basketball. Check out the show March 8th and every Saturday after at 11PM on TV38. And if you’re out - make the guy at the bar switch the station.

All this and more just a click away on Celticscast! Remember to give us a call at 617-934-0628 and be a part of the show.

So he’s not bought out yet and he needs to be this week in order for him to play with another team (such as the Celtics) in the playoffs. It’s like the September 1st deadline in baseball - player can join the team for the stretch run just not the postseason. Here’s some coverage from LA. Also, here’s a fun Lakers-Celtics article where a Lakers writer goes wishing….Meanwhile, Marc Spears from the Globe reports
“An NBA source said that the Spurs, Rockets and Suns are now the front-runners to sign soon to be free agent guard Brent Barry. Barry will clear waivers Tuesday morning after being released by Seattle following a recent trade from San Antonio. The Celtics now seem to be a long shot.”

Seems to make sense for Houston to grab somebody if they can with Yao Ming done for the season.It’s not exactly another center but Barry could help. Personally, I don’t know how this could happen - he plays a full game two nights ago, practices fully yesterday and bam out for the season. I’m not going to question Yao playing thru pain - it’s just strange to not see him go down in a game and then be out for four months.

C’s and Cavs tomorrow and now the matchups look like this:

Rondo vs. West - Delonte is quick and a shooter but Rondo should be able to stick with him as long as he makes the southpaw go right

Ray Allen vs. Devin Brown - advantage Allen, the experience factor and really offensive talent factor sways this one. Brown’s on his 5th team in 7 years in the league by the way.

Pierce vs. LeBron - Hoo boy. Actually, Allen guarded LeBron a bunch last time they matched up as did Posey and Tony Allen. They all did the best they could but James kept hitting impossible to guard fallaways. LeBron should guard Pierce to start and Paul should try to get LeBron in foul trouble if he can.

KG vs. Ben Wallace: a physical matchup for sure: Assuming Ilgauskas plays tomorrow (he didn’t tonight with an “upper respiratory infection”), this matchup would be one to watch every time down the floor just like Amare vs. KG was in PHX

Perk vs. Ilgauskas: If Perkins can make sure he doesn’t give up plenty of offensive boards and stays with Big Z on his jumpshots, this could be a push…

Bench vs. bench: Anderson Varejou is back, Wally, Joe Smith and Damon Jones are the main threats. Another important one for Posey, Powe and Davis to matchup defensively with a lot of athletic semi-big guys that can shoot.