- 05:53 AM
- 11/21/24
| Name: | Bryant Durrell |
|---|---|
| Location: | Boston |
| Member since: | January 31, 2002 |
| Last visit: | June 18, 2008 |
Bryant has posted 14 links and 221 comments to SportsFilter and 2 links and 28 comments to the Locker Room.
Paul Shirley blogs: Who the heck is Paul Shirley? Iowa State 2001, career NBA scoring high is 6 points, averaged 10 points and 6.9 rebounds his senior year in college. But he can write.
posted by Bryant to basketball at 08:42 AM on March 25, 2005 - 12 comments
Want to play a little soccer?: Have some Friday flash fun. My high score is pathetic.
posted by Bryant to soccer at 04:35 PM on October 08, 2004 - 9 comments
Gary Payton for -- Banks?: That's about how the trade boils down; it's Payton, Rick Fox, a 1st round pick, and cash for Marcus Banks, Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins, and a 2nd round pick. Payton will be wearing the Celtic green. Bill Simmons loves it. I think a lot depends on Delonte West, who had better be ready to play point guard next year when Payton's gone.
posted by Bryant to basketball at 03:53 PM on August 06, 2004 - 4 comments
This sort of thing: is not going to do my wallet any good; I can tell already. Of course, I'm a sucker for collectible games anyhow. And this looks like even more obsessive fun -- forget about little dinky superheros and knights, let's play with MLB.
But I'm curious. Will this hook any non-gamers? Does the ordinary sports fan find this an acceptable form of fantasy ball? The lead designer is a Strat-O-Matic fan; it's hard to imagine he could capture that sort of complexity in a simple miniatures game, though.
posted by Bryant to baseball at 07:11 PM on February 25, 2004 - 5 comments
Jim O'Brien joins Byron Scott: on the unemployment line. Not surprisingly, it's the result of a major argument about "personnel and playing time issues" between him and Danny Ainge. You could pretty much see this coming; Ainge has been trading away O'Brien's favorite players (Walker and Williams and Battie) all season long, and O'Brien hasn't done a great job developing Ainge's draft picks.
You have to wonder if the defensive coaching genius, Dick Harter, will depart with O'Brien. He's a big part of whatever success the Celtics have had recently, and it'd hurt a lot to lose him. For that matter, who will the Celtics get to replace O'Brien? John Carroll gets it in the short run; is this Dennis Johnson's big chance to come back and coach for a teammate?
posted by Bryant to basketball at 04:00 PM on January 27, 2004 - 17 comments
Yeah; and the ownership groups talk to each other and reinforce that ethos. For a while the Krafts and the Red Sox guys got a little bit snippy over who was getting the most inches in the newspaper, but everyone got over that and now we have the Red Sox moving start times in order to accomodate the Celtics games.
posted by Bryant at 12:24 AM on June 14, 2008
Read what I said, man. I didn't say he was better than Paul or Williams; I said he was more of a pure point guard. I said he /might/ be a perennial All-Star, and let me put the emphasis on "possible" there. But I do think he's a great point guard for this team, and I think he's easily going to be the third best point guard of his generation, with those two guys clearly ahead of him. He's two games away from being the third point guard ever to win a Finals before his third season, and the first two were Magic Johnson and Tony Parker. It's pretty darned good company to be in, and when the guy throws out 16 assists I don't think you can say he's just along for the ride.
posted by Bryant at 12:15 AM on June 09, 2008
I think he's a highly promising second year point guard. I get a little bit nervous when I remember that he has to play well in order for the Celtics to win a championship, but he's capable of doing it. A lot depends on whether or not he can do it consistently. He's a good defender. He's a superb rebounder for a guard; Bob Ryan says he's one of the best 6'1" rebounders in the league, and I tend to agree. He makes dumb decisions sometimes. He can penetrate and shoot -- he has a nice little teardrop floater that goes in more often than you think it's gonna. He spent all summer working on his jump shot, and it improved substantially. I expect he's going to do the same again this summer. Next year, opponents won't be able to cheat off him when he's 18' from the basket, and he'll nail breakaway jumpshots. Last year, he shot .418 from the floor. This year, it was .492. Note that he's slipped in the playoffs -- again, he's a second year guy, and he needs seasoning. He's a pure point guard, moreso than either Chris Paul or Deron Williams. He's gonna be an All Star someday, quite possibly a perennial one. His ceiling... somewhere between DJ and Cousy. Closer to DJ. Yeah, really. He might or might not reach that ceiling. I'm very happy he's a Celtic.
posted by Bryant at 10:30 AM on June 07, 2008
Martinez took a no-hitter into the ninth with Varitek catching on August 29th, 2000, and made the same mistake Schilling did. (Pedro's had lousy luck with no hitters; he's taken two into the ninth and took a perfect game into the tenth.) So Varitek's caught four no-hitters, one abbreviated five inning no-hitter, and been within sniffing distance of another two. Quite the catcher.
posted by Bryant at 09:43 AM on May 20, 2008
I'd just as soon they beat the Cavs. We have a three year window for a title with the current team; I don't expect them to win it this year, but it's important to get Rondo, Perkins, Powe, and Davis as many playoff games as possible. In about that order. Rondo's almost never the best player on the court, but he is almost always the most important player on the court, because the three stars aren't really great at directing the flow of the game. Fortunately we happen to have the best point guard Tubby Smith ever taught at hand, so there's a decent chance he'll mature into a Tony Parker before the three amigos age out. Playoff experience is gonna help there, no matter how painful it is to watch.
posted by Bryant at 10:46 AM on May 15, 2008
ESPN has video. Nice little package, including the initial hit and the walk around the bases.
posted by Bryant at 04:28 PM on May 06, 2008
Wow. Nice of The Logo to help out the Lakers like that. It is almost as he still works for them but just in the Memphis office. Chris Wallace is the Memphis GM this year; he hurt the Celtics while he was their GM, and now he's hurting Memphis.
posted by Bryant at 05:51 PM on February 01, 2008
Rex Ryan, the defensive coordinator, called the timeout. So the defense got screwed by their own coach. I'm sure it stung. I think that if the officials on the field had called the TD pass an incomplete, the booth would have upheld it. It was just a close, close play. On the other hand, if the booth had overturned it, then it would have been second and 4 with plenty of time, and I think the Patriots most probably wind up getting the touchdown anyhow.
posted by Bryant at 11:04 AM on December 04, 2007
CBS says the crowd noise was their audio glitch.
posted by Bryant at 01:54 PM on November 05, 2007
In a league that features over 400 players a season, ranking in or around the top 50 isn't bad, especially if you're not a PG. Even better if you're on a team without any other serious scoring threats. So, yeah, not too bad.
posted by Bryant at 04:49 PM on August 01, 2007
Who do they have to pass the ball? They seem to have lots of shooters and a poor defense. I admit to not being much of an expert, but I thought that the guys they have want the ball fed to them. The trio was #49, #50, and #51 in the entire NBA in assists per game last season. (Allen, then Pierce, then Garnett.) This is not superb, but then again it's not a sign of a trio of players who're unwilling and unable to pass. Rajon Rondo is the current choice to start at PG. He's untried. He looked pretty good in the last 30 or so games last year; his big weakness is that he can't shoot the jumper. He is pretty effective inside, though. 5.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 steals in 25 starts. 20-30 games does not a career make, however. Celtics fans will be significantly more comfortable if and when Danny signs a competent veteran PG as backup. Brevin Knight is one obvious choice.
posted by Bryant at 03:02 PM on August 01, 2007
If I were a Celtics fan, I'd be glad the team made a bold move to escape mediocrity. Garnett, Allen and Pierce put them back on the map in an East that's susceptible to title runs driven by superstars, as Wade and Shaq did in Miami two years ago and LeBron did last year. I think they've got a legit shot at a top four finish in the East, though I wonder how much defense they can muster in the postseason. Me too. Garnett's a capable defender, so I feel comfortable there. Pierce played good defense earlier in his career but has regressed a fair bit. Sometimes I want to blame that on Doc Rivers. We'll see. It's a definite potential weakness.
posted by Bryant at 12:20 PM on August 01, 2007
For those who are counting the wins in the coming season, just remember that you are one injury away from disaster. We had that problem last year, as evidenced by the disaster that occurred when Pierce went down.
posted by Bryant at 03:04 PM on July 31, 2007
Nah, they still own his contract.
posted by Bryant at 07:27 AM on July 31, 2007
Ring it up! Celtics crush Lakers for 17th title
Yay hindsight! Oh, hey, I remember that comment thread. Pardon the woofing, but I said: But really. If the three stay healthy for a season, we're talking Kevin Garnett with more help than he's ever had in his life before. I'm not saying it guarantees anything; that'd be silly. It's also kind of silly to say that they won't make the EC finals. And I called Rondo out as a critical element of the team! Then again, I was concerned about their defense, so maybe I'm an idiot after all.