The Good the Bad & the Ugly

I must admit that this particular game was a slight conflict of interest for me since I am a Celtics fan BUT I really wanted my fantasy Point Guard to have a really great game which meant occasionally rooting for the other team.  Luckily, James Harden went on to score 4 out of 6 free throws, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 17 total points. These are impressive numbers since this was Harden’s first game back after sustaining an ankle injury. Based on Harden’s performance he showed no hindrance during this game and played a total of 34 minutes. This goes without saying the only GOOD thing that came from the Celtics v. Thunder game on Wednesday night was that I have James Harden on my Fantasy B-ball team.

It is BAD when one of your teams top scoring players is out due to an injury but it is worse when your top scorer is out due to a preventable thing like Rondo’s recent suspension. Rajon made the mistake of letting his emotions get the best of him during a game in Detroit.  He reacted too strongly when I call wasn’t made for him on Sunday and out of frustration he made some unnecessary comments to the ref.  To make matters worse Rondo threw the ball to Sean Wright which resulted in a double tech and his ejection from the game.  In addition to the ejection, it was later decided that Rondo would also fulfill a two game suspension as punishment for his actions.

The Wednesday night game is proof that a game can get UGLY and sloppy real fast when you are missing key players like Rondo.  Boston was definitely hurting in the first half of the game against the Oklahoma Thunder.  Within the first quarter the Thunder scored 21 points in 5 minutes and made scoring look easy against the Celtics.  They surpassed Boston with a whopping 72 points in the first half.   Not only was Boston struggling offensively with the absence of Rondo they were slacking defensively and not able to stay on top of the Thunders’ three point shooters.  The Celtics had a total of 18 turnovers and were outrebounded by the Thunder.

Bradley fouled out at the end of the 4^th quarter with 12 points. However, Bradley played a really solid game overall and is shaping up to be a great young Point Guard for the Celtics.

The Celtics scored 31 points in the 3rd quarter and came within 7 points of the Thunder in the 4th quarter, but other than that it is safe to say the game was pretty UGLY for Celtics fans.  Oklahoma went on to beat Boston 119-104. Unfortunately, the Celtics have lost their last 5 games but they have a few days to regroup before the play the Cavs on February 28^th.  Let’s just hope they come with their game faces on next Tuesday!