The Mind of Mullin: POSTGAME: CELTICS

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

POSTGAME: CELTICS - 11/26/08

Stephen Jackson had his most efficient night this season

MVW: Stephen Jackson

The Good
Stephen Jackson: 45 min, 11-18 fg, 3-4 3pt, 5 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk, 30 pts
Corey Maggette: 37 min, 12-20 fg, 4 reb, 32 pts
Andris Biedrins: 42 min, 4-9 fg, 9 reb, 4 ast, 2 bs
C.J. Watson: 16 min, 4-4 fg, 2-2 ft, 10 pts
Jamal Crawford: 37 min, 6-6 ft, 6 reb, 6 ast, 18 pts
Ronny Turiaf: 22 min, 5 bs

The Bad
Corey Maggette: 37 min, 1 ast, 4 to
Kelenna Azubuike: 23 min, 0-3 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 5 pts
Ronny Turiaf: 22 min, 2 reb
Anthony Randolph: 1 min
Anthony Morrow: DNP-CD

The Ugly
Jamal Crawford: 37 min, 5-17 fg, 2-8 3pt, 4 to

Best and Worst +/-
C.J. Watson: +4
Jamal Crawford: -17

Team Statistics
Warriors : Celtics
pts - 111 : 119
fg - 39-79 (.494) : 41-87 (.471)
ft - 26-33 (.788) : 32-36 (.889)
3p - 7-19 (.368) : 5-14 (.357)
reb - 34 : 47
oreb - 7 : 13
ast - 21 : 21
to - 11 : 11
stl - 6 : 4
bs - 8 : 7
fast break pts - 21 : 20
pts in paint - 38 : 66

Box Score
Highlights

Corey Maggette turned in his best performance as a Warrior

Notes

starting lineup: Crawford/Jackson/Maggette/Wright/Biedrins
can't really complain too much about the Warriors' effort vs. the NBA Champs; better rebounding, hit free throws, hustled for loose balls and played tough defense in long stretches; close game - entertaining game
they showed how moving the ball and playing scramble defense could help you beat any team on any given night
a number of bad calls and no-calls went against the Warriors; Randolph's blocks were pretty clean - 2 fouls in 1 min, did not return; Warriors hacked and no fouls called; refs gave Celtics the benefit of the doubt tonight
Jackson got frustrated on at least 2 calls and his arguing resulted in 2 scores by the guy he was guarding; run back on defense then argue when it is safe to let your guard down a little more
Crawford was struggling out there and should have been replaced with more C.J. and a little bit of Belinelli; Crawford's new and should be eased in slowly
Warriors need to study how they played in the 1st half and duplicate that as much as possible
Jackson was terrific, Maggette was just a scorer - like him, but not a player you commit +$10M per year for 5 years
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Postgame Quotes

Don Nelson
On Today's Game:

“They’re the world champs, they’re terrific. They may have nights like this more often than they would want, but anyway, compared to our last game we played about as well as we can play. So I’m very happy about that. We just didn’t have enough for them. Corey [Maggette] was terrific. We went with our bigger lineup that he’s probably more comfortable playing in. The three rather than the four. Jamal didn’t shoot it as well as I know he can, but he’s going to be really good for us. Its just a matter of maturing and playing together. I suppose at the two guard he’d be playing off screens more. But he’ll be fine. There will be a day when he can play either spot. When Monta [Ellis] gets back, that’ll really be an interesting combination.”

Stephen Jackson
On Today's Game:

“It’s good that we had them on their heels. We came out and competed better than we did last night. It’s something we’ve got to build on, but we’ve still got to find a way to win games. We had them on their heels and we weren’t able to close it out. That shows you why they are one of the best teams. They turned it up a notch, and we couldn’t reach their intensity. KG made some big shots, Ray made some big shots, and I think the key to them winning this game was Rondo. Rondo had a heck of a game. He made a lot of big shots and a lot of big defensive plays.”
“I’m proud of my young guys for coming in here and battling against the defending champs. We had a chance to win, we just didn’t finish. We know we have talent, we’re just trying to figure out how to come together. Just to compete against a team like this is a plus, but a win is what we want. At the same time it’s something to build on, so we’ve got to take it for what it’s worth.”

On Corey Maggette:

“Corey’s a scorer. A couple times we should have went to him we missed him. But this is what we expect him to do. Corey’s been an 18, 20-point scorer his whole career, so we expect him to do that.”

On The Season So Far:

“It would be frustrating if the team wasn’t so young. But you’ve got to expect this. We have to expect ups and downs, and we’ve got to stay positive and build on it. We can’t dwell on it. That’s my attitude, and that’s the team’s attitude, and we’ve got to keep it that way. I think we’re real close.”

Corey Maggette
On Today's Game:

“I was just trying to do whatever I could to get going. The shots started to fall. Trying to keep my hamstring in order so I can keep my strength, be more aggressive. But we had a great opportunity to win this game tonight, and in the second half we made some careless plays that cost us the game. I think our team really played hard and gave us a chance to win this game. I think we got careless. I don’t want to say it was all them. We were throwing the ball all over the place. In the third quarter they made a run, next thing you know its 73-76. If we had capitalized on their turnovers we might have had a chance. Of course these are the world champs, and they are extremely good. They play to win every possession. They have really good players with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. Their big guys came in and did some big forcing. Perkins, Tony Allen, and Big Baby made some big plays. I think we really had an opportunity to win the game.”

On The Future:

“We need to continue to play hard, but I think it needs to be me and [Stephen Jackson] making shots to help our team win. Then everyone else filling the board. We have to shoot better. Your twenty-point scorers have to shoot above 38%. We’re shooting below 38%, and that’s hurting us. Beidrins is playing absolutely great for this team right now. We just need to pick up the slack everywhere.”