Posts tagged ‘Boston Celtics’

What’s Going on Pistonscast Posse?

Times are hard. It’s a recession out there. People don’t have jobs. People don’t have retirement funds. People simple don’t have.

*Is it starting to seem that the Pistons might not have it this year?

*Why does Tayshaun Prince struggle against Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics?

*Is Rodney Stuckey going to be the player that Pistonscast knows he can be?

*Have you ever heard of Bruce Leroy? LOL

You know what to do!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

So I hate the Boston Celtics. Yes, you all know that I’m a Pistons fan, but even if I wasn’t I would still not like the Celtics. Why, you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked as I’ve made a list.

1. They’ve beaten the Pistons 8 out of 11 games the past season and this season combined (including the Eastern Conference Finals).

2. That the Pistons have been very good the last 7 years and have just one championship to show for it while the Celtics have been good for just 1 year and have the same number of championships.

3. They act like babies and thugs. For further proof just look at the technical foul leaders this season. Boston leads the league by a wide margin. They have 39 technical fouls, which is 14 more than the next team, Phoenix. Kendrick “I’m a bigger baby than Big Baby Davis” Perkins leads the NBA with 9 techs in 19 games, the same number he had all last season. Boston has 3 players in the top 11 in technical fouls. Ouch.

4. It seems that not a day goes by without some mention of a Celtic doing something ridiculously stupid. Literally off the top of my head I can think of several: KG taunting Jose Calderon, KG “slapping” Andrew Bogut, Paul Pierce flashing gang signs at the Atlanta Hawks during the playoffs.

5. The Celtics’ arrogance. I was recently watching a game in which the Celtics were up by 20+ points. Perkins received a pass down low in the paint and he dunked it home. So naturally he celebrated and started to jaw and stuff. Thankfully he got hit with a tech. Another example is when they beat Minnesota by one point at the buzzer and KG celebrated like he won the title as he was jersey-popping, etc. KG, you barely beat a truly awful team. Wowsers.

6. The media love they get. It sickens me. The Pistons and Spurs have been dominant for the better part of this decade and yet the media has covered the Celtics more in the past year and a half.

7. The fact that they acquired KG in a “trade” with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Seriously, the T-wolves had several better deals than the one Boston offered. Just the fact that the Minnesota’s GM Kevin McHale and Boston’s GM Danny Ainge used to be Celtics teammates is enough to make me vomit.

8. The fact that the message seems to be that you have to be bad (2007 Celtics) in order to be good later (2008 Celtics).

9. That the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery essentially gave the Celtics Ray Allen and KG. If Boston would have won the lottery, or even gotten the second pick, then whey would have taken another young player (Greg Oden or Kevin Durant). But they got the 5th pick which set off a series of events that led to the 2008 NBA title.

10. That KG wasn’t suspended in the playoffs for pushing a referee during a skirmish, even though he definitely should have been.

11. That Tony “I broke my leg dunking because I’m a moron” Allen and Eddie “I can’t do anything at all (especially dribble) but shoot” House trashtalk all the time even though they both suck. Seriously, all House does is shoot and he thinks he’s a god at it. Newsflash to House: You’re open so much because opponents are guarding KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen.

12. That Rajon Rando thinks he’s sweet even though he has no jumpshot and couldn’t hit a 3 pointer to save his life.

13. That Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown jumped on the Boston bandwagon late in the season (playing only some 17 regular season games) and played less than 14 minutes per game in the playoffs, and yet they both still got their rings. And that Cassell acts like he’s been a Celtics for life because of it.

So hopefully you can see now why I hate the Celtics. If Boston wins the championship this year I will probably swear off NBA basketball for life. Okay, not really, but you get my point.

-Steve Kays

stevekays.blogspot.com

The Pistons Close the Gap

Does all this mean that the Pistons have closed the gap?  In the regular season the Pistons had an efficiency differential of 8.17.  In the post-season this differential has declined to 5.10.  Yes, the Celtics still boast a better differential even when we compare just the post-season performance of each team.

One should note, though, that the Pistons have faced better competition than Boston.  So one could argue that the Pistons have closed the gap.  Certainly as a Pistons fan I hope this is the case.

Had the Pistons maintained their regular season performance we would not have to discuss strength of competition.  If that were the case the Pistons would have thus far surpassed the Celtics.  Why were the Pistons unable to maintain what we saw in the regular season? One answer, as detailed in The Wages of Wins, is that playoff performance tends to be worse than the regular season (due to improved competition).  One Piston, though, has decline a bit more than we would expect.

Table Three: The Detroit Pistons after the First Two Rounds of the 2008 Playoffs

As Table Three reveals, virtually all of Detroit’s decline can be attributed to Rasheed Wallace.  In the regular season his WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes] was 0.142. In the post-season his mark is only 0.031. 

Wallace is not the only one whose performance has changed.  Chauncey Billups is also offering less while Tayshaun Prince is now leading the team in Wins Produced.  If Wallace and Billups can return to form, and Prince keeps producing, the Pistons might just advance to the NBA Finals.  And if that happens, I think the Pistons might just win their fourth NBA title.  Or to put it another way, I think the winner of the Celtics-Pistons series should be favored over either the Lakers or Spurs.

Let me close by noting that fans of Boston and Detroit should look forward to a great series.  As I noted a few weeks ago, the current edition of each team is the best in each franchise’s history.  In sum, this should be real fun (and even more fun if the Pistons win).

David J. Berri
Associate Professor of Economics
California State University-Bakersfield

www.dberri.wordpress.com