I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters
and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics.
Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from Milwaukee.
“Oh yeah,” Jennings said when asked if this had become a heated rivalry. “All I can say is just sit back, get ready for the playoffs, because this is fitting to be crazy. We’re up for it and it’s going to be a crazy series.”
After the March 9 game and his confrontation with Davis, Jennings said Boston is “known for punking people.” The rookie point guard has another way of looking at the Celtics now, too.
“Boston is like the big bullies from school,” Jennings said. “A lot of teams don’t like that and a lot of teams aren’t going to back down. Jerry (Stackhouse) told me on the court, he said ‘Watch when the playoffs come, this is shifting to be fun.’”
But the Celtics are a great first round opponent for tons of reasons. Not just because they appear most beatable, but because the Bucks can learn lots from their guys. They can see the intensity they’ll need. They can feel the type of defense pressure that wins games in the playoffs. They can see a star at work in fourth quarters in Paul Pierce, watch what he does and how he operates.
But not all the Celtics serve that purpose. Some of the Celtics are in need of some learning themselves. Frankly, on Saturday night, Glen “Big Baby” Davis looked like, well, pardon the obvious pun, but, a Big Baby. His reaction to a hard foul by Kurt Thomas led to a technical for his time, an on court talking to by Celtics Coach Doc Rivers and … a flagrant foul on Thomas? Perhaps Davis did know what he was doing. It’s possible he was just working the refs.
Make no mistake, the Celtics love to play the roll of 'bully.' I'm willing to bet those tactics will work against a young team like Milwaukee in the playoffs. When the first round series is over (Celtics in 5), Milwaukee will chalk this up as a learning experience (a la Atlanta in 2008, Chicago in 2009).
Am I wrong in thinking the Kurt Thomas throw-down was an obvious flagrant 1? I'm not sure what this Bucks blogger was watching.
Skiles after the game:
"He didn't have a great stat line, but Rondo has owned us in these games so far. He just goes wherever he wants to go. We've got to do a much better job of getting him out of the paint. He causes the defense to collapse, opens up things up for everyone else. We've really struggled to contain him... On the ball, and the guys getting in proper help position, we struggled with that."
Can the Bucks maintain their defensive prowess without Bogut? Jury's out.
Sans Garnett. At this point, Andrew Bogut means more to the Bucks than does Kevin Garnett to the Celtics, but the fact is Bogut won't be back for the potential playoff rematch, and Garnett certainly will. A 15-point home loss to the Garnett-less version of Boston doesn't bode well.
Hey Skiles, you are not alone. Rondo has been doing that to teams all season long.