Beware the Celtics’ albatross
Watching James Posey being presented with his 2008 NBA championship ring last night before Hornets/Celtics, it reminded me that one of the overlooked silver linings of Boston’s hot start — a win streak currently sitting at 14 and an overall 22-2 record — is that for the moment, they don’t have to listen to anyone questioning the offseason decision to let Posey walk and ride with Tony Allen as his replacement.
Not that T.A. is necessarily putting in major work: Clocking just under 20 minutes a night, Allen is averaging 8.8 points and 1.3 steals, shooting a disgusting EIGHT percent beyond the arc and racking up more turnovers than assists. He’s been an inconsistent spark off the bench; sometimes very bad, sometimes very good, and not the overall difference maker Posey was.
Since the C’s are winning, however, it’s not an issue. And even if they continue to steamroll through this regular season like they did last year, just wait until the playoffs. As soon as Boston drops a postseason game, the Posey/Allen question will again be raised.
Including the play of Tony Allen, what are the chinks in Boston’s armor that will come to the surface this season?
-->
December 13th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
ERIC says:
Austin – I think that the major story is not that James Posey/Tony Allen, its how RAY ALLEN is playing like his former self after everyone spoke of his decline last season.
One disturbing trend is Kendrick Perkins tendency to pick up technical fouls which could come back to haunt the C’s during the regular season if he misses games (and potentially losing home court advantage in the tight race with Cleveland) or during the playoffs when each possession is critical.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
JCARR says:
“chinks” lol
December 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
naive says:
racist bastards its kinks not chinks. go to school.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
JCARR says:
Sam Cassel… will play when it counts
December 13th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
QQ says:
Haha… 20 dollars that the next time I reload the page, it will already be changed to ‘kinks’.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
YOUNGFED..."I'm at the call of duty but my metal gears solid" says:
Chinks in their Armor, damn I didnt know Yao/Yi played for them. lmao
Alright that was just wrong I know.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Richard Wellner says:
Kevin Garnett’s bitch nature and the subsequent saturation of the refs’ good will.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Richard Wellner says:
It’s funny that Burton said chinks, but got on me about having to study Black History.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
northern lights says:
@ naive, pull out a dictionary instead of pulling out the race card.
chink
“a narrow opening or crack” e.g. “a chink in one’s armour” or “a weakness”
Thats from the Oxford dictionary fellas. leave dime alone…lol
December 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Richard Wellner says:
You be usin’ the Oxford? That’s not very patriotic. Webster for-ever.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
So you dont know black history, and you dont know the english language? lol
December 13th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
YOUNGFED..."I'm at the call of duty but my metal gears solid" says:
@post#9
Sluuuuurrrp’…..Sluuuuuuurrrrrpppp’
LMAO
December 13th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
JCARR says:
Urban dictionary:
a slang and sort of racist way to say chinese people
“dawg, those chinks have small eyes”
“fizzle doh!”
It can go either way!
December 13th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Richard Wellner says:
YOUNGFED, slurp? Is that all your people can do, slurp off of what we have built and made? Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp. Keep slurpin till we cut the cord off, then you’ll see ‘who’ the worst off.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
doc says:
There is no weakness u just gotta take it to them.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
You gotta run against Boston, and you gotta keep with motion offense, making them switch as much as possible. Boston’s fucking good this year though
December 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Richard Wellner says:
Ooooh ooooh ahhh ahhh
December 13th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Jay says:
Everyone who thought “kink” was right got owned by Austin
December 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
wwill says:
I await the day when the headline reads “CLASSLESS NEGRO”.
The outrage and calls of racism ensue before readers find out the article is talking about the Bulls’ coach who committed yet another classless act (in addition to his horrid display in the final minute against the Knicks).
December 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
wwill says:
But this site will probably be shut down before people can get to reading the article.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Austin Burton says:
…except his name is “Del Negro.”
But honestly, sorry for the verbal mix-up/faux pas.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
vinny says:
Dick @post14 -who the fuck is ‘your people’ man take your aryan brotherhood ass to another site you rAcist BITCH!!
December 13th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
duh says:
Yo Vinny
@ Post 22…
Why you get so bent out of shape if this dude is throwin jabs…
your mans Young was calling asians chinks w/ small eyes…
lighten up bruh
December 13th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
YOUNGFED says:
@post#23
What, I’m just stating the obvious, even Austin saw the mistake. So to you I say…..Slurp, Slurp, Sluuuuurrrrrppppp. lol
December 13th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Dagomar says:
Wow, douchey comments section.
Problems with the Celtics? Sure, losing Posey will hurt when dealing with Lebron or Kobe – the two most serious threats to a repeat – but right now it’s all relative. The Cavs are CRUSHING teams and the Lakers have a dominant record, but would anyone seriously bet against the Celts right now? Barring a serious injury to a major player, with KG, Pierce, Allen and a killer bench the Celts don’t have many holes to worry about.
December 13th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
K Dizzle says:
WTF? Sometimes dudes just shouldn’t post anything.
Yes, the celts will miss Posey, but not til their first major injury and definitely not til the playoffs..
December 13th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
nola says:
it’s kinks, not chinks. you can cite whatever you want from whatever dictionary. it’s the negative connotation of it. better yet, the racist connotation to it. the word nigger is still a word, but the reason it’s a terrible word is the racist connotation behind it. this is just another example of how racism towards asians is always overlooked.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Austin Burton says:
@nola — Or “kinks” could be taken as racist due to the history of people saying Blacks have “kinky” hair. Obviously “chinks” was a sensitive word that I used for the literal meaning without thinking of the offensive connotation (which, turns out, derives from the literal meaning), but if you think there was some intent to be racist there, that’s untrue.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
dLee says:
an injury to any one of the Big 3 could be diasterious
December 13th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
marcus says:
The biggest issue by far is the lack of size in the front court. If Perk gets in foul trouble against a team like the Magic, we’re all of sudden at huge mismatch.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Richard Wellner says:
@1 through 30: I love you all.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
vinny says:
@duh- I hear u- the problem is that DICK(wellner) has a history of racist comments on this site and its getting old.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Homeless J says:
Nola is an idiot. like Austin Burton sat around thinking “How can I be racist against chinese people today? OH I GOT IT!” I’ve never heard anyone say there were “kinks” in someone’s armor. I’ve heard plenty of people use the correct term, chinks in one’s armor.
If he really wanted to be racist by talking about chinks in armor, he would have made a post about the chinese military. Stop being so unnecessarily racially sensitive. This is dime.com, not racialinsensitivity.com.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Junior says:
There was this local guy on tv talking about the same thing… Just looking die simethig to criticize. They bout to go for the record and we gonna have another parade this June
December 13th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Three Stacks says:
I’ve never heard of kinks in armor. Chinks in armor is pretty commonly used in literature, though. Just cause something sounds wrong doesn’t mean it is wrong. It was a pretty niggardly response by the people that jumped on Austin.
As for the Celtics, I’m hoping for a late season injuries to Garnett and Pierce. But seriously, their biggest weakness is probably a thin bench and the fact that Doc Rivers might start coaching like Doc Rivers from two years ago.
December 14th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Ian says:
really
u cant say shit in american sites without someone sayin is racist
shit
it fuckin chinks IN ENGLISH not kinks and dont give me the urban/slang dictionary bs
December 14th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Ian says:
three stack
” It was a pretty niggardly response by the people that jumped on Austin.”
yup
December 14th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Celts Fan says:
Here are the potential problems as I see them:
No legit backup for KG: If KG gets hurt, you can plug in Leon or Big Baby – both rotation guys, but neither fills the offensive role KG plays in our offense, though the D and rebounding would be OK.
Frontcourt size: If KG goes down, we at least have legit NBA players to plug in at the 4. If Perk goes down, we either play KG at the 5 (which he doesn’t like,) play an undersized 4 at the 5 (Baby/Powe – who’ve both been ok there, but you don’t want long-term) or play Patrick O’Bryant whose only NBA quality is being 7 ft. He’s shown occasional flashes that he may be a poor-man’s Perk, but is that really a compliment?
Backup 3: Tony Allen is shooting TERRIBLY, but he’s got good energy off the bench. The problem is that we’re play SCAL some at backup 3. Hopefully the fact that Bill Walker and JR Giddens are throwing up 20 per each and filling up the stat sheet means they’re up here and taking Scal’s spot sooner than later. TA is a hell of a defender, but at 6’4″, LeBron and Kobe will shit on his dreams.
If it ever came to it, I wouldn’t be against smaller line ups w/ Rondo, House, and TA against running teams, but that doesn’t help us when you play a traditional team.
Scal: How is this guy in ANY rotation? You wouldn’t let him get in your AAU game. He has to have naked pics of Doc and/or Danny with 6 year old boys, right? That makes more sense than anyone thinking he deserves PT on the defending champs, and now he’s getting minutes at the fuckin THREE?!? Ugh…
The things that make up for it:
Ray’s play: The man who changed his game the most (from The Man to spot-up shooting #3) last season seems to know exactly what he’s supposed to be doing in the system this year and is making it happen. Not gonna lie, thought he may’ve been close to done, glad to see I was wrong.
Defense: Despite not having a Posey-level individual defender off the bench, we’re still playing great team defense for 48 minutes. We’ve slowed down some of the best in the game so far, though it’s A LOT different in the Playoffs when everything’s ratcheted up that Posey’s loss will/could really show.
Championship swagger: After winning the chip, it seems like they just EXPECT to win. There’s never any panic with the team, there’s just that, “You do what you want now, we’ll make our run soon enough and stop you with our D, don’t worry, it’s gonna happen but enjoy your 2nd quarter lead,” swagger that you’ve come to expect from teams like the Spurs.
Paul’s Play: Pierce has simply elevated his game this year. He has always wanted the ball at the end of games, now he demands it and he makes teams pay in the 4th. That game 7 vs. LeBron changed him. He went from a star to a superstar and has the confidence and the “I’ve done this and I’ll fuckin do it again to YOU!” swagger at the end of every game. The full game #s aren’t always there, but if it’s close w/ 3 minutes left, you know where the ball’s going and he’s been making it work.
Rondo’s play: While not an all-star, I’d take him over all but a handful (about 7-10 better than him right now) of PGs in the league. He’s much more consistent this year. He paces this team, gets a few steals a game, and generally just tends to do a bit of everything. He’s one of those guys that the #s don’t come anywhere close to telling the whole story but if he ever gets hurt, it’ll be clear how important he truly is to this team. Just a smart player. One of my favorite plays he routinely takes that most people (not on this site, but the general public) don’t notice is when he kicks it out to a shooter and stops right in front of them so the defender can’t get a hand in his face. He does the little things. Dude does need to get more aggressive and be a better finisher though, and also keep workign on that J but I’ll take it.
We’re NOT winning 70 (just putting it out there cuz people were saying it about LA and I thought it was fuckin dumb, if we keep winning, it’ll be said soon enough, but that shit ain’t happening) and the Cavs still scare the fuck outta me (especially if they move the ton of expiring contracts they have for another player) but right now, I gotta say we take another 1 this year (but I’d give it to Cleveland if Scal’s still in the rotation in the playoffs.) The regular season’s been really good, but the playoffs will be a lot tougher than Nov. and Dec. have been….
December 14th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Celts Fan says:
*Walker and Giddens putting up 20 per and filling up the stat sheet IN THE DLEAGUE (but Scal still couldn’t touch that so why’s he fuckin playing!?)
December 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Desrat says:
@ Three stacks,
That was a good use of a word that sounds racist but as no entomological connection to the term that has become racist; just like Austins “chink.”
crackers can be used as a racsist word, like “Richard Wellner is a cracker.” But that doesn’t mean I should apologize to white folks cause I wrote in my blog that I like “eat crackers in bed.” Jeez.
Plus it depends on the cracker; I got nothing to do with Saltines, but I eat the sh_t out of Jessica Simpson!