The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Celtics vs. Nets

A little tardy to the party here, but a few thoughts on last night’s game as the Celtics moved to 2-0. Before you get excited though, know that Minnesota is also 2-0 on the preseason. Not that you would get excited about preseason results, but Minnesota might not win two games all year. That’s what happens when you have a roster with eight point guards.

Onto the show…

The Good

Grand Marquis: Marquis Daniels is the most important player on the Celtics roster.

Don’t believe me? Well, I’m not going to try to totally sway you now. You’ll have to check back in the next few days for a more detailed piece about the man who inspired the greatest piece of jewelry of all-time (outside of any of Flavor Flav’s clocks).

Still, the Celtics need Daniels to be healthy and productive this season, so it was nice to see him take an assertive role last night and taking the big shot. I don’t think Daniels is going to confuse anyone for an outside threat, but if he can develop some range his role in the offense can expand. He actually has some game inside already.

Shrek and Donkey Show: That’s more like it from Mr. Robinson, who might not have had his shot locked in but got to the line a team-high 11 times. He is going to get a lot of minutes in the backcourt with Delonte West, and I like that combo–a pair of versatile guys who can both handle the ball and shoot it as well. I’m not sure how great they are going to be on defense though…

As for Big Baby, I talked about his frustration over the lack of a known role after the Philly game. Well, it doesn’t matter what his role is if he keeps playing like he did last night. He took some good shots from outside and had his jumper working, and he also played well on the defensive end. I thought Davis would break out last year, but that thumb injury slowed him down. He looks ready to go though this season, and I’m predicting big things for him.

The Bad

Delonte’s back: Well, he is going to miss the first 10 games anyway, but this is the type of thing that could cause problems all season. It seemed like everything was precautionary, but lets hope this doesn’t last all season.

Getting Technical: The new rules are just bad. I was thinking that without Kendrick Perkins (for at least half the year) and Rasheed Wallace the Celtics wouldn’t be at the top of the tech list this season. But who knows now?

The Ugly

Inside Game: I stressed in the Trifecta yesterday about the need to defend Brook Lopez in the post. All the guy did was get 13 points in the first quarter.

Lopez is an excellent player, and he lived at the line last night, attempting 15 free throws. The Celtics all had high praise for the Nets’ franchise center, but they didn’t do much to stop him.

Nil for Wafer: Another game, another poor outing for Von Wafer. How does he not attempt a single shot, again? He did not look comfortable out there, and picked up a tech for the second straight game.

This is a deep Celtics team, and Wafer was really brought in to be a designated outside threat. If he won’t shoot the ball, that can’t happen. But truth be told, he has been so invisible out there that he will be lucky to make the team.