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Video: C's welcome back Scal & Thibs

 

Via Chris Forsberg... here's the video "thank you" the C's played during the first timeout for Brian Scalabrine and Tom Thibodeau. 

Follow the link for the crowd's, and Thibs', reaction to his intro at the start of the game.

There goes Thibs... forgetting to sub again

So there were the Bulls, down big to the Knicks in the 4th quarter... but making a run.  The bench had cut a 19 point lead down to 9.  At 108-99 with 4:48 left and a crew of Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson, CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer and Omer Asik on the floor, the Knicks called a timeout.

Enter Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and the rest of the starters. 

Or not. 

Kinda reminds you of the game where Thibs took over for an ejected Doc Rivers and didn't make a substitution for the last 19 minutes of the game and played everyone but Glen Davis the entire second half. 

At least he had an excuse last night:

"I thought that group was playing pretty well and we had gone with the starters a little longer than usual to start the second half," Thibodeau said in explaining his decision. "The second unit fought hard to close it and I wanted to see what they could get out of it. They were closing a lot harder to the three-point line.

"I thought about it, but I thought the group that was out there was covering the line pretty well."

Risky strategy by Thibs, actually.  Seems like he was sending a message all night about the Bulls play on the defensive end.  It's one of those strategies that will pay off right away tonight against the C's with a high-energy defensive effort... or backfire with a sulking group of players who will start tuning him out.

We'll see tonight, I guess.  One thing is for sure... his starters will be well rested.  Unfortunately for us... we might see Derrick Rose do more of this:

 

Your Morning Dump... Where Thibs may know too much

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

“He’s written down every ATO (after timeout play) that I’ve ever run,” Doc said. “We’ve run literally a hundred ATOs that nobody’s ever seen because we run them every day in practice. And he was writing them all down. I used to kid him and say that some day that’s going to come back and haunt me.

“Maybe I’ll mess him up and put a new play in.”

Herald - With Thibodeau back, Celtics defend strength

Thibodeau will have the Bulls prepared for tonight's game vs the Celtics. But the plays teams run are really no secret. Everybody knows whats coming, it's all about executing the defense to stop it.

Speaking of defense, the Celtics D is faring fine without Thibs:

The Celts have done well on defense thus far. They gave up 95.6 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting last year. Though the sample size is small (five games), the C’s have given up 92.8 points on 42.3 percent shooting this season.

The return of Thibodeau is really the subplot to tonight's matchup vs the Bulls. The main event is Rondo vs Rose.

The Bulls point guard is averaging 26.8 ppg, 10 apg and 4 rpg...

My concern is that Rondo, who has a tendency to force this issue against top tier point guards, will do just that.

One other factor - the Bulls are coming off a 120-112 loss to the Knicks.

On Page 2, Delonte is waiting in the wings.

Coach Tom Thibodeau in action with Derrick Rose

I'm an unabashed basketball junkie.  And not in the "I've got to watch 10 games a day" way.  I mean I could spend 10 hours a day on the basketball court watching the game... watching guys learn... watching coaches coach... all of it.

So when day 2 of USA Basketball's mini-camp ended... I was mesmerized when I saw Tom Thibodeau walk over to Derrick Rose.  Out of nowhere, Thibs and DRose just started talking... and it turned into coaching... and it slowly became a back and forth of "this is what I see you doing" and "this is what I see on the court".

I recorded a portion of it.  Maybe to some of you it will seem like 2 guys just talking on the court.  And that's fine if you see that and find it boring. 

But to me, I see knowledge being passed from one mind to another.  I see the game of basketball itself growing as a star player learns something that will make him even better.

Here's the video.  After the jump, my 1-on-1 interview with Tom Thibodeau... where he still professes a fondness for the C's... even though he's with the other side.

This is why Thibs chose Chicago...

...Because they might be better than the Celtics next year

The Chicago Bulls have a deal in place that would move Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick to the Washington Wizards, freeing up enough cap space to pursue two maximum-salary players in this summer's free-agent market, sources with knowledge of the Bulls' plans said Thursday.

It wasn't immediately clear what Washington would send to Chicago in the trade.

The deal can't be officially consummated until July 8, when the Wizards will have room under the salary cap to absorb Hinrich's $9 million contract without having to send back anything of similar value.

So they've got Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng.  Then they add 2 of the max guys... like, oh, maybe Chicago native Dwyane Wade and 5 time All Star PF Chris Bosh... and then they go nuts and dominate the East for like 5 years. 

Meanwhile, all the New Orleans rumors are about them dumping Chris Paul and rebuilding. 

Oh Thibs... you're a smart guy.

Done deal: Thibs to Bulls

Via the Chicago Tribune

Tom Thibodeau has accepted the Bulls' 3-year offer to become the team's 18th head coach in franchise history, according to sources. No formal announcement can be made until the conclusion of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Thibodeau's Celtics.

Congrats, Thibs.

Big loss for the Celtics.  Should be interesting to see how this affects the C's next year... and whether the C's pull a "Let's do it for Thibs".

Thibs will probably get the Bulls job

The Celtics' associate head coach quickly emerged as the front-runner to succeed Vinny Del Negro as Bulls coach after Paxson and Forman flew to Los Angeles for a Wednesday night interview on the eve of the NBA Finals.
Two sources familiar with the Bulls' thinking continued to paint the situation as Thibodeau's job to lose and that an offer is expected to come this weekend.

Chicago Tribune (via SLAM)

I've said it before... I'll say it again.  Congrats Thibs... you deserve it.

As for taking the Chicago job over New Orleans, I think that's a smart move.  Stay out of the West... take a solid nucleus on a team that will probably add another big name.... and create a successful season for yourself by grabbing a 6th seed. 

New Orleans has some decent players... but the West is so tough, you've got to be great to just sneak into the playoffs.

So its a good move already by Thibs.

Now let's go beat the Lakers tomorrow, OK?

Your Morning Dump... The Celtics are healthy and ready

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Wallace, who originally tweaked his back during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against Orlando then left in the fourth quarter of Game 6, had been held out of contact drills earlier in the week, but moved fluidly in the portion of practice open to the media, which included stretching and shooting drills.

Rondo said he'll be near full health by Thursday.

"My body is fine," said Rondo. "These five days have definitely been great for me personally. I know it's great for the team, but for me I've been getting a lot of massages, a lot of treatment. I'm feeling better and better each day. The more time I get, the better I am. [Thursday], I'm sure I'll be back almost at 100 percent."

ESPN Boston - Rondo, Wallace Practice

Great news. I was more worried about Sheed (brittle old guy) than Rondo (rubbery young guy).

As for the Lakers Andrew Bynum:

"It didn't really help," Bynum said of the action, which is designed to alleviate the pain of a torn meniscus. "As soon as I drained it, about 12 hours later, all the fluid came back. ... It wasn't really a good procedure."

"It's about the same," Bynum said. "It's going to be there, when I come down from jumping, and push off laterally, but I'll be all right. Muscles kind of shutting down due to the swelling. It's tough to jump and tough to do everything up to your maximum level."

ESPN Boston - Bynum says fluid has returned

Bynum has been able to play through this injury so far, but he hasn't faced a front line like the Celtics in the Western Conference playoffs. Bynum is talking an awful lot about this injury, which makes me think he's prepping the media and fans for a subpar performance - "Don't blame me, I was injured."

On Page 2, Thibs turns down the Hornets for the Bulls, allegedly.

Report: Hornets, Thibs in contract talks

Via Woj

The New Orleans Hornets have begun contract discussions with the representatives of Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Hornets general manager Jeff Bower has exchanged proposals with Creative Artists Agency, which represents Thibodeau, on parameters of a possible deal. Sources say Thibodeau still plans to meet with New Jersey Nets GM Rod Thorn about his coaching vacancy sometime before the start of the NBA Finals on Thursday. It’s unclear how close the Hornets and Thibodeau are on a possible agreement, but one thing seemed certain: Thibodeau still wants to stay in play for openings with the Nets and Chicago Bulls, and that could become a slippery slope for his candidacy in New Orleans.

Seems like Thibs has a job if he wants it... but he's trying to keep his options open.

Sounds like the dude who's got one girl... but not the girl he wants.  He'll keep her around until the other one comes to her senses and realizes that all the flowers, candy, personally written songs, hours spent outside the bedroom window, the hundreds... and hundreds... and hundreds of portraits of her he painted in the dimly lit garage with James Blunt's "You're Beatiful" on loop, were all for her because I just KNOW were were supposed to BE together.....

... I'm sorry... what were we saying?

Oh... congrats Thibs.

Your Morning Dump... Where Rondo got his ass kicked

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The Celtics had done a phenomenal job defending the pick-and-roll through the first three games of the series, but the Magic added a layer on Monday by often having a second screener waiting for Rondo after Nelson ran the initial pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard.

That left Rondo, who Celtics coach Doc Rivers said after the game had already complained of fatigue early on, running into wall after wall. With little more than a minute remaining in the first half, Rondo retreated to the locker room with strength and conditioning coach Bryan Doo for what the team dubbed muscle spasms

.... "They ran double pick on the strong side," he explained. "We really didn't do a good job on that. We didn't see it coming, but once we saw it, we didn't do a good job of coming in and sinking on the big man. We either fouled somebody or they scored it every time down. It's an adjustment we're gonna have to make in practice and see if we can do better."

Rivers noted that it's not just on Rondo to fight through the screens, but a team effort to deny the play. "They do it every game, that's nothing new," said Rivers. "We've done a pretty good job up until [Monday]. It's not just Rondo, though. He has to fight through them better and get into the body better. But our bigs have to show better."

ESPN Boston: C's can't get picked apart again

What Doc said there was what I was talking about yesterday when I mentioned the pick-and-roll defense.  When the pick is set, the big has to step out so the point guard using the pick sees a big Celtics jersey rather than the open floor.  This way, he has to take a big, looping route rather than turning the corner. 

Just watch the first 12 seconds of this play:

Dwight comes up and hits Rondo with a screen.  Perk actually stays low on that and leaves it up to Rondo to fight over the top of the pick.  That may simply be the C's strategy on Howard so he doesn't get a clear path to the basket.  Rondo does fine getting over that, but then Rashard Lewis steps up and sets the second pick... and KG does a bad job of showing on Nelson. 

Again, Nelson needs to see that Celtics logo, and KG needs to really ride him out.  KG actually got into Rondo's way, springing Jameer and setting up that drive and dish for 3.  Barnes missed, but the Magic ultimately got an alley oop.

Rondo, meanwhile, take a Howard tree trunk leg to the hip, a screen from Lewis and an inadvertent bump from KG... all on one play.  That type of thing happened over, and over, and over again in Game 4.  It's no wonder he went into the locker room early with "muscle spasms" in his leg.  He probably kept getting whacked in that same leg (on more than a few illegal Dwight Howard screens) in all these picks.

So those screens did more than just spring a bunch of the Magic for a lot of open shots... they kicked Rajon Rondo's ass and slowed him down.  Slow down Rondo, and you slow down the Celtics transition game.  Slow down the transition game, and the Celtics loose opportunities to let cold shooters heat up. 

Rondo's had a day to rest his bumps and bruises.  The Celtics have had a day to figure out how to keep him from getting popped twice every time down.  Making that one adjustment ends this series tonight for the C's.

On Page 2:Thibs has a job offer... or maybe he doesn't.

Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images