Boston Celtics: Having watched most of the Celtics games this season, I have noticed a glaring weakness that could prevent the Celtics from repeating as champions this year. Their bench is not that good and it has hurt them on this recent road trip where they have lost 3 of 4 games. Eddie House, Tony Allen, and Leon Powe are all capable off the bench, but after that the Celtics are extremely thin. Big Baby Glen Davis is horrible and the Celtics will not win a championship with him as their main low post defender off the bench. Once the playoffs come around they will need a P.J. Brown like defender down low off the bench badly if they want to have any hopes of winning it all. I also think that having Eddie House run the point takes away from his best asset, which is shooting the ball in more of a shooting guard type role. I don't think House will be running the point come playoff time and I don't expect to see Big Baby defending opposing centers either. I expect the Celtics to address those two areas of need one way or another before the playoffs begin. Also, check out the video below that shows the ridiculous call by the refs last night who let the Blazers get away with having 6 men on the court and allowing them to score and not take away the basket.Shaq: Shaq is not getting as much love as he should be for the year he is having. People like to laugh when Shaq comes out and boasts about how he can still dominant a game, but I believe him. One look at his statline this season will tell you why: 17.2 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 59.8% FG. Pretty impressive numbers for Shaq, who some people believed was going to decline this season, but instead he has posted a Player Efficiency Rating(PER) of 23.75, which is good for 11th best in the NBA. In fact, Shaq has better ratings than Dwight Howard in every category for PER except for his rebounding rate. Shaq's True Shooting % of 61.8% is the highest of his career, meaning that he is a more efficient scorer than ever. So yeah Shaq might not be as dominant offensively as he was in his prime, but he might be more efficient and he deserves to get some props for that.
Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks are on fire of late winning six games in a row and 9 of their last 10 to move into 4th place in the Eastern Conference with a 21-10 record. The Hawks are an impressive 14-2 at home and just a modest 7-8 on the road, so they will have to pick things up on the road if they want to be considered as one of the elite teams in the NBA. Despite a middling road record, the Hawks have built upon their postseason experience last season and have definitely improved as a team. One of the reasons for the improvement in the win column is their improved shooting percentages, especially on three pointers, where they have gone up from 35.6% to 37.9%, which is 9th best in the NBA. Most of that increase is due to having Mike Bibby and the addition of Maurice Evans. Overall the increase in shooting percentage had been a factor in the Hawks being ranked 5th overall in offensive efficiency. While they still aren't a great defensive team, they are giving up less points(94.8) than last year(100.0). Also, Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, and Marvin Williams are all having career type years and as expected Al Horford has improved from his rookie year.
More NBA News:
- The Houston Rockets signed center Dikembe Mutombo for the rest of the season. Mutombo is 42 years old but is still a solid defensive presence. The Celtics were also looking at Mutombo and I think he would have been a good addition to their team as well.
- Carlos Boozer is going to have surgery on his injured left knee, which is not good news for a banged up Utah Jazz team. The Jazz our out of the playoffs right now and I think they could be in danger of missing the playoffs if they don't get healthy soon. They will probably be battling with Dallas, Phoenix, Portland, & Denver for the last playoff spot.
More: NBA Weekly
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