January 1, 2012
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Good Guys rang in the new year with a decisive win over the
Washington Wizards, whom they will face again tomorrow night!
Let's make oit two for tweo!
December 28, 2011
CHANNEL CHANGE
Tonight's game vs. New Orleans is no longer on NBAtv.
It's on the regular League Pass, same start time.
Can you network guys PLEASE stop making these last second changes while
people are trying to adjust to this wacked out schedule?
December 26, 2011
ROSTERS IN PENCIL
With changes literally taking place a few days before the start
of the season, I waited until now to
update the Celtics roster--and they STILL haven't assigned a number to
the newest guy yet--and he might be playing tomorrow night!
December 25, 2011
WAAH!
Game one was a tough loss. Had the Good Guys played a
little tougher in the first quarter they would likely have won this, no
matter HOW screwy Joey Crawford's officiating got.
Predictions list closed!
Accompanying the shortest season in over a decade was the shortest
Predictions list in the sme amount of time. Thanks to all who did
participate, and to the rest, I hope to see you next season!
December 19, 2011
THE 2011-2012 PREDICTIONS LIST IS OPEN!
Congratulations
to:
Jonathan Branin, Rick Daley,
Karl Dillinger, Douglas342, Michael
Gooen, R Howe, John Lyell, and Dwain Williams
the winners of the 2009-10
predictions!
December 14, 2011
NBA LEAGUE PASS NOW AVAILABLE
While the NBA's own site has no information beyond that fact as
yet--they say there will be more detail tomorrow (Thursday, December
15)--by way of various sources, is the following information:
The normal "Whole NBA" pass will be $169, with a free preview lasting
through either January 3 or 8, depending on who you talk to. I'm
told the broadband/phone app thingys will be added for free. never mind
the cost.
I have no info about whether there will even BE a half season pass this
year,
There will--supposedly--be a discounted version on nba.com/roku where
you can stream games from your choice of five teams for $109. I
know almost nothing about it's viability or quality. I'd love to
hear from someone who's actually used this service.
Nothing about this is at all certain. Enough credible sources are
giving this info that I think it's solid.
I went to the website for my own cable company at 10:11pm Wednesday
night and there's no new information at all.
Given all this, I urge anyone interested to please contact their
provider directly tomorrow for more accurate details. As soon as
I know something more certain, I'll mention it here.
December 12, 2011
The new schedule is up
I've also included national broadcasts in Canada, at least as
regards the Toronto Raptors vs the Celtics.
Well, we DID say they needed their heads examined...
The NBA has instituted a new policy regarding concussions, as reported
by ESPN.com:
"Before the opening of preseason games,
each player will undergo baseline testing, which aids in the diagnosis
of potential concussions. Players and coaches will take part in annual
training and will have to sign acknowledgment forms that they
understand the importance of reporting symptoms.
"Dr.
Jeffrey Kutcher, an associate professor of neurology at the University
of Michigan, will serve as director of the NBA's concussion program. He
is instructing team medical personnel on the tests to conduct if a
player is suspected of having a concussion. The players must be
examined in a quiet location free of distractions.
"If
a player is diagnosed with a concussion, he will have to complete a
series of steps to confirm that he's healthy enough for competition.
Once he is free of symptoms, the player must make it through increasing
stages of exertion -- from a stationary bike, to jogging, to agility
work, to non-contact team drills -- while ensuring the symptoms don't
return after each one. Then the neurologist hired to lead the NBA's
concussion program needs to be consulted before the player is cleared.
The
process will likely take at least several days, if not weeks."
After
what happened to Brian Scalabrine, I'm glad the NBA is at last
formalizing this for all teams, instead of each team dealing with this
differently--or not at all. Moreover after some of the horror
stories we've heard from the NFL, this sounds like a REALLY good idea.
November 14,2011
The answer is NO.
The Players Association has rejected the Owner's list of demands
disguised as a contract offer, and has begun the process of disbanding
the Union as a prelude to beginning antitrust lawsuits against the NBA.
While I personally want to see Basketball games resume, I've
never
believed in "peace at any cost", be it here or anywhere.
For those of you who, like me, hold the Owners responsible for this
situation, I give you the Telephone Number for NBA Headquarters:
212 407-8000
Please let all your family and friends know, so they can call,
as I
already have, to let them know just how badly they screwed up.
And a side note to the Hardline Owners like Michael Jordan...I hope
they kick your collective asses in court.
November
7, 2011
The
Celtics Beagle Lockout Tour
December
26 Update--since the League came sonewhat to it's senses, the tour was
cut short.
November
4, 2011
A Conversation with Mom
Two years ago last Christmas, my mom was diagnosed with Cancer.
At the
time, they gave her a few weeks to live. But they didn't know her
very
well. She was the one who taught me to be a Celtics fan.
She'd turn on the radio and we'd listen to Johnny Most while she
explained all the rules of the game to me. She told me who the
players
were, and most importantly, that Lakers were a Bad Thing.
She talked Dad into putting up a hoop and backboard, even though we
lived in a neighborhood where Baseball was unquestionably the most
popular sport, with Hockey a close second. I was the only kid on
my
block who really cared about the Celtics. Mom was always willing
to
talk about the games.
As years went on, and the excitement of the early 1980's gave way to
the thoroughly depressing years with Rick Pitino, who told us who
wasn't walking through that door--as mom and I wished Pitino WOULD go
though it and not let it slam him in the ass on the way out--to the
slow, faltering attempt to rebuild, we would call each other and
inevitably talk about the Celtics.
When Bob Cousy--her favorite player--was doing a book signing near her,
I let her know so she could get a copy and have him sign it. A
week
later, the book I thought she had at home arrived in the
mail--autographed to both of
us.
Then came the turnaround season and a roaring run to the Championship,
which mom and I celebrated together by phone as each game was
played.
When the Celtics destroyed the Despised Lakers, we celebrated from the
center court with Garnett and Bill Russell, and laughed at Brian
Scalabrine's impromptu press conference. We watched the parade,
me on
the internet, Mom in person.
Then, Mom got the diagnosis, in the midst of other medical problems,
which made a dire situiation even tougher. When she called with
the
news, I tried not to make it any harder on her. Other friends and
relatives had been through this, we both knew what lay ahead. We
knew
that some people used music or comedy to get through it. But the
answer was as clear as a Bob Cousy free throw.
By mutual agreement, beyond a basic "how are you doing" we didn't talk
about her illness unless she had specific news. Our calls were about
our team, how they were doing, and what we wished they did more
of.
She was the kind of person who agreed wholeheartedly with 99% of
everything Tom Heinsohn said during a broadcast and was known to throw
things at the tv if the C's didn't play well enough.
But finally, this past season, she was too sick to stay home, and moved
into a hospice. The calls were less frequent, as she was less
able to
have long conversations about anything. Last May, as the Celtics
were
making one last Playoff run, her season came to an end.
I know that she'd be as annoyed as I am about the lockout. She'd
be
grousing that they should stop talking the business of Basketball and
get back to playing the actual game of Basketball. She would
grumble
that if Red were still around, he'd knock some sense into both sides,
and wonder why they didn't just let Tommy Heinsohn decide the best way
for all sides to go. I know that because that's what happened
during
the last lockout.
Anyway, people say that when someone dies, that it's occasionally a
good thing to write them a letter. Well, we knew how we felt
about
each other, and we got to say our good-byes. So what else to
write
about?
What else?
Mom, the Celtics are very vocal on both sides of the Lockout. Wyc
is a
relative moderate among owners, and Pierce and Garnett have been
shaking things up on the player's side. God knows why they put a
$&&^^%*%*^# Laker in charge of the players, the fools.
King
David Stern the First is throwing new tantrums each week as his legacy
becomes one of cancelled games. Billy Hunter still thinks this is
a
personal grudge match in revenge for the last lockout, and Delonte West
is working at Home Depot.
Doc and Danny will have a LOT of work ahead of them trying to bring the
team together again--whenever that happens. I'm still hoping
there'll
be an NBA season this year, but some doomsayers are already wondering
how many of NEXT season's games will be cancelled.
The good news is, I saved a bunch of money not having to get the NBA
League Pass yet. In the meantime, I'm watching old games on tape,
and
a few more on DVD, and enjoying the Good Old Days.
I figure you're with Red, waiting once more for Bill Russell, so you
can put together a team to win Championships in Heaven. I'll let
you
know when the season gets started and who ends up on the team when the
dust settles. Meanwhile, have fun, have chocolate. And don't play
HORSE with Red. He cheats.
November 1, 2011
An open letter to ALL participants on the NBA Contract Negotiations
Locked Away
This is an open
letter to both Players and Owners. I
hope someone reads this to both sides during a meeting, as a reminder
of what’s
REALLY at stake here.
Today is November
1, 2011.
For the fans, this is the day
the
lockout became all too real. After hearing
and reading about missed deadlines, lines in the sand, lines of credit,
and
lines about how sorry everyone supposedly is, I decided to write a few
lines of
my own.
When the Owners
decided to shut down the NBA, you didn’t lock out the Players.
You locked out the
FANS.
When the Players
stormed out of a potential deal, you also walked out on the FANS.
After all, in the
end, it’s not the Owners who pay the Players, it’s us.
WE pay for you to play. Moreover,
it’s not the TV networks, etc that
generate so-called “Basketball-Related Income”, WE
generate that, when we subscribe to the League Pass, or buy
tickets to games, or purchase various things at the stores.
WE make it
possible for Owners to make money, and for Players to make a living
playing
Basketball. Believe me, we fans would
love to have a deal like you guys have.
WE live on a lot less income, with no leverage to increase it by
ANY
decently measurable amount, much less numbers like you’ve been arguing
about.
You can’t decide
on a split between 50-53%?
Fine. Give
it back to us. Return some of the cost of
season tickets to
those who paid up faithfully, and institute a serious price cut for the
League
Pass for the rest of us. Remember guys,
the NFL GAVE their League pass to fans in return for their foolishness. I doubt you guys will be so generous, since
you’ve all been clinging to every dollar like you have no idea hot to
pay for
your next trip to the grocery store.
I’m a second
generation Celtics fan. Around the world, there are more like me, as
well as
fans of other teams. WE really don’t
CARE who started it.
WE want it
STOPPED.
Stop behaving like
three year olds throwing a temper tantrum open the doors and play the
game. Because we’re rapidly getting
tired of being locked out and are discovering equally fulfilling things
to do
with our time, and our money.
And time, as you
keep saying without truly realizing, is running out.
October 24, 2010
Wheeze, pant, cough...
OK, I'm having to rebuild things that
I thought had been successfully updated some time ago. And that's
going to take some time, since I ALSO have to do the latest updates for
the new season.
I need a minion, damnit.
December 05
2009
The Celtics were luckier than they knew three years ago.
As we enjoy the current success of the
Celtics, I want to take you back for a moment to three years ago.
It's late June, and the Celtics, after a horrible season lowlighted by
Paul Pierce suffering a serious injury that saw an extended losing
streak unfold, fans had been looking forward to the idea of perhaps
getting some payback from the Tim Duncan lottery blowup by having a
choice between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, had just learned that the
Celtics would be drafting 5th in a two man dream draft.
Danny Ainge took that pick, and (against my specific opinion at the
time, not that he ever read that) traded the draft rights to Jeff
Green--along with players Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West--to get Ray
Allen and Glen Davis.
This trade was followed in short order by the trade that brought Kevin
Garnett to the Celtics, and one year later, Banner 17 came home.
Greg Oden, meantime, went to the Portland Trailblazers, who had netted
a top pick for the second year running.
But Greg's rookie season was a disaster. Microfracture surgery on
his right knee sidelined him the whole season. His next season
was slightly better, as he only missed 20 games with two different
injuries, one to his foot, and the other a bone chip in his left knee.
This year, his third season is now likely ended after he fractured his
left patella during a game against the Houston Rockets.
Back in 2007, along with oodles of other Celtics fans, I thought the
Good Guys had been very unlucky not to get the chance to draft Oden.
Tonight, as we seem to be having another outstanding season despite our
share of injuries, I think maybe we were luckier than we knew.
And that's the view from the doghouse.
November 08, 2009
Net Gain
After a dismal loss to the Phoenix
Suns, the Good Guys returned to their winning ways, beating a New
Jersey Nets team that was barely able to field the League Minimum eight
players between injury and illness. A combination of
fatigue--eight games in 12 days--and some really sloppy play kept the
Nets in the game until the 4th quarter, when the C's were able to pull
just far enough away for the defense to keep the Nets scoreless for the
final three minutes of the game.
October 24, 2009
Starting again...
A new season is upon us, and with it,
hopefully a fresh start for the CBW. The new Predictions list is
opened and updated as of today.
The 2009-10 schedule is up, and for the first time, includes Canadian
television broadcasts.
There'll be more changes and upgrades as we go. They would have
been done already, but somebody hacked into this site and some cleaning
up needed to be done.
I'll get more done this weekend, after taking some time to celebrate my
birthday tomorrow.
Arnold Jacob
"Red" Auerbach
Basketball Legend
September 20, 1917 - October 28, 2006
"And
the
day
will come when,
Stooped
with
Age
and Steeped with Life,
I
must
bring
my days to an end.
Let
me
not
weep over times of sadness,
Nor
curse
the
battles lost,
Nor
mourn
the
tasks unfinished.
Rather,
let
me
dance joyful in
happiness,
Roar
my
celebration
in Victory,
Revel
in
the
work well done.
Should
you
ask,
"Would you do this
again?"
Let
me
not
vacillate, picking and
choosing portions.
I
will
dare
to do it all, live my
whole life, again.
For
the
most
crushing agonies of
life's defeats
Was
my strength's source to achieve
life's victories."
--Mike
Buckley,
2006
used with permisssion of the author
Measure Once,
Cut
Twice, or, NBA Division
Math
It's a good idea
to remind everyone--myself
included--about the NBA's current Divisional alignment and Playoff
seeding. Here's how
the divisions go now, with the official explanation following:
Eastern
Conference
Atlantic
Division:
Boston Celtics,
New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors
Central
Division:
Chicago
Bulls,
Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee
Bucks
Southeast
Division:
Atlanta
Hawks,
Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards
Western
Conference
Southwest
Division:
Dallas
Mavericks,
Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, San
Antonio Spurs
Northwest
Division: Denver
Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trailblazers, Oklahoma City
Thunder, Utah Jazz
Pacific
Division:
Golden
State
Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns,
Sacramento Kings
Under
this
plan,
teams will play divisional opponents four times each (two
home games/two road games), conference opponents outside the division
three or four times each and opponents outside the conference two times
each (one home game/one road game).
The three regular season divisional winners in each conference
will
earn a playoff berth and one of the conference’s top three playoff
seeds based on regular season record. The remaining five playoff berths
for each conference will be based on regular season records with no
regard to divisional alignment.
Home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs will be based
solely
on regular season record, not playoff seeding, thus a divisional
winner
that has a higher playoff seed than an opponent will not necessarily
have home court advantage in the playoff series.
What changed? Not much, as far as the regular season
goes.
The teams still play 82 regular season games. Boston is
even still in it's original division. The C's will still play WC
teams twice a year, home and away. Some of the teams outside the
division we might see only three times a year instead of four--it'll
depend on the schedule.
The big change comes in the
playoffs. There are now three
potential Divisions to win instead of two, with each Division winner
guaranteed a playoff berth and
one of the top three conference playoff
seedings. The remaining five spots are based on regular season
records, as they are now.
A
word about game reviews
As
is obvious to one and all, I've fallen far behind. The problem is
one of health--and stamina. I record the games--and zap
commercials in the process. Then, I have to watch the games again
to review them--this in order to replay crucial possessions, get a
better look at who did what, and so on. Then I start typing up
and posting the review. From start to finish, that takes 5-6
hours per game (including needed breaks). Right now, I'm doing
well to watch the initial game before falling over.
I WILL be reviewing all the games AND putting them up
here--but it's
going to take some time. People have been phenomanally patient
about this and I wanted to let everyone know I appreciate it. I
have already decided that the major offseason project will be catching
up on any reviews not done, with the goal of having everything caught
up before the start of next season. The good news is, once they're up,
they'll STAY up, and you can compare games from different seasons,
etc., to your heart's content.
Celtics
Season
Series
team by
team:
This not-for-profit page is intended
for Celtics fans to enjoy. This site was created by me and is
maintained
by me.
Anything not a statistical fact is individual opinion.
Snoopy & the round-headed kid--er,
Charlie Brown--were created by Charles M. Schulz,
and are copyrighted by
United Features Syndicate, Inc. Please visit The
Official Peanuts Website!
The Boston Celtics and all other
team names, logos, etc., are copyrighted by the NBA.
Please visit
the Official site of the
Boston
Celtics!
The Celtics list on IGTC.com was
created and is maintained on by Paul Moriarty. Please visit the
Official IGTC.com site!
The
Celtic Stuff list at Yahoo
was created and is maintained by Jim Metz. Please visit the Official
Celtics Stuff site!
The names of those on the predictions
list have
not relinquished their right to privacy.
Do NOT send unsolicited e-mail!
Extra
Special
Thanks
to Mrs.
Celtics
Beagle for putting up with the funny looking kid with the big
nose.
Special Thanks to Kim Malo
for her help and patience in making this site "A Better Place To Be".
Special Thanks to Paul
Moriarty
for creating the Celtics list on IGTC and not giving up.
Special Thanks to Bob
Chin for
his permission to use several of the cool pics used here on the site.
Thanks to the following people,
places, and things ("nouns" seems too impersonal...) for various
reasons:
Mom & Dad, without whom
I wouldn't be here, and you'd have a heck of a time getting to this
page.
My sister, who is smarter
than she ever gives herself credit for.
Harry
Chapin for teaching
me to Do Something.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
for "Bridge Over Troubled Water".
Charles M. Schulz for being
exactly like I hoped a cartoonist would be.
Kent G. Orlando (Cheeks the
Toy Wonder), who proved that websites can be a form of Art and Free
Speech--and still fun.
Boston Radio Station WUMB
for introducing me to the music of Stan
Rogers, Christine
Lavin, Cindy Kallett and
John Gorka.
Walter Brown for betting
everything he had on the Boston Celtics.
Red Auerbach for putting
up with the neck-deep sh---er, stuff---from subsequent owners.
Johnny Most for all those
great moments.
Bob Cousy for being my mom's
favorite player.
Dave Campiti for keeping
the magic in comic books alive. Please visit his Glass
House Graphics website.
Finally, to Bill Cooper for those incredible
game reviews of seasons past.
