The Red Sox organization has been in a free fall since last September 1st. Mirroring the Red Sox’ fall from grace has been the decline of the guy that used to be looked at as our young ace pitcher, Jon Lester. Lester is only 28 years old this year but if he can not rebound from his sub-par pitching since last September than sadly we may have already seen the best days of Jon Lester as a pitcher.
Lester has been an inconsistent performer since last September 1
Lester’s woes have flown under the radar with Josh Beckett being public enemy #1 for what he’s done off the field, Clay Buchholz pitching as bad as any starter in the league at the outset of the season, and John Lackey in exile (even though he’s in the dugout at every home game) after Tommy John surgery. Lester also got points from Red Sox Nation when he stepped up and accepted responsibility for what happened last season in the clubhouse and expressed remorse for what became of the Red Sox season and manager Terry Francona. Lester, however, has been as inconsistent as any player on the Red Sox since last September 1st when the wheels began to come off of the wagon.
Consider that Lester made 25 starts between opening day and August 27th. Of those 25 starts 19 of them were quality starts (pitching at least 6 innings while giving up only 4 runs or less). A quality start is a benchmark for consistency for a major league pitcher and a 76% Quality Start rate, which Lester had going into September last year, is an excellent number. Lester also struck out at least 5 batters in 20 of his 25 starts including 11 in a game against the Angels on May 3rd of last year. He had a 3.09 ERA heading into September last season and had walked 3.3 guys per 9 innings. His shortest outing of the season was a 4 inning outing against Toronto on July 5th due to an injury that caused him to leave early in his next start as well and eventually land on the disabled list. There were only three other occasions where Lester could not get into the 7th inning meaning he reached the 7th in 80% of his starts through August. Then came September 1st.
Rajon Rondo was able to escape Evan Turner and the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth quarter of the Celtics' Game 1 victory.
The Boston Celtics have been able to overcome several deficits throughout their first seven games of the postseason. While this can be a good thing at times when the Celtics are able to climb back into the game and eventually come out victorious, it is never a good thing to fall back on.
The Celtics cannot allow teams like the Philadelphia 76ers to hang around because they are young and if the Celtics leave the door open, the 76ers can gain confidence. There were too many turnovers and only Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were making shots for a large portion of the first half to keep the Celtics in the game. In fact, the Celtics went through the initial nine minutes of the game without a field goal from anybody other than Garnett.
The Celtics trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half at 45-32 before they went on a 10-2 run to head into the locker room down by merely 5 points. In the first few minutes of the third frame, the Celtics scored six consecutive points to take the lead for the first time in the game after Avery Bradley’s layup. The team fell asleep when Rajon Rondo tossed a lazy pass in the direction of Paul Pierce. The 76ers’ Evan Turner stole the ball and turned the careless play into transition points after Garnett was called for goaltending on an offensive rebound.
When the 4th quarter began, the Sixers scored the first six points to go ahead by double figures at 10 points. The majority of the team struggled shooting except for Garnett, who was 12-of-20 from the field. It was not until the 4th quarter that Rondo was taking care of the ball and knocking down open jumpers from the elbow. Rondo’s numbers (13 points, 17 assists, 12 rebounds) looked great at the end, but for the majority of the contest, he was inconsistent . He finished with 7 turnovers, including two overthrown lobs to Greg Stiemsma and Garnett.
The biggest keys in this series are limiting the turnovers and disposing the exuberant Sixers as quickly as possible. If the Celtics are able to get past the 76ers, they appear to be on a collision course with the Miami Heat. Even though the defending Eastern Conference champs are flawed, they have two superstars in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were able to end the Celtics season last year. The Heat is much better than either the Atlanta Hawks or the 76ers. The Celtics will not have the advantage of the home crowd to help will them back in the game.
Currently, the Celtics have four key players dealing with injuries. Pierce has an MCL sprain in his left knee which can only improve through rest. The same goes for Allen’s bone spurs in his right ankle. He is day-to-day. Bradley’s left shoulder needs to occasionally be popped back in. Mickael Pietrus’s suffers flare ups in his right knee.
For the Celtics to continue this final run for the Big Three deep into the playoffs, they cannot afford to play Russian Roulette against a pesky 76ers team, who is not as talented as the Celtics. The Celtics must come out and dominate early and often.
It was all Rondo and KG for the Celtics Saturday night
Do you remember the first half of the season when the Boston Celtics looked completely miserable, clinging to the bottom barrel of the Eastern Conference playoff seeding and unable to beat the Philadelphia 76ers?
Well those days are over.
Philly and Boston were evenly matched, shooting the exact same 43.9 percent from the field as the Celtics used a 24-10 fourth-quarter run to beat the Sixers, 92-91.
David Ortiz sits in the dugout, hanging his head after a Red Sox loss.
One would figure that on the centennial anniversary of historic Fenway Park – America’s most beloved ballpark – the Red Sox would be poised to have a great season in which their fans could be proud of.
Wrong.
Just about a month into the season all it has been for the Sox is a disaster. An absolute mess. And it all started last year in what was the most disappointing season in recent history – and I stress recent history – for the Red Sox. Let’s take a look at it.
September 28, 2011 – At the beginning of the month Boston was ahead of Tampa Bay in the standings by nine games, which should have been a comfortable enough lead heading into the playoffs. *insert Jim Mora’s playoff rant here* But no, this Red Sox team couldn’t even put together consecutive wins in September, finishing the month with a 7-20 record. And rightfully so, it came down to the last day of the season, literally. All they had to do was beat the Orioles and they were on their way to what probably would have been a disastrous postseason. But no, in comes Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning to allow two runs and give Baltimore the 4-3 victory. Shocked would probably be the best word to describe the thoughts of many after watching the Sox lose that game.
But what happened just moments after that in St. Petersburg, Florida, would be just the beginning of what was yet to come. Evan Longoria hit a solo-homerun in the 12th inning to give the Rays an 8-7 victory over the Yankees in a game which Tampa once trailed 7-0. Most importantly, that win sent the Rays to the playoffs and sent the Red Sox fishing. Disbelief would probably be the best word to describe the thoughts of many as they went to bed that night. And to add to it, the Red Sox decided not to exercise Terry Francona’s 2012 option, parting ways with the skipper who brought two World Series Championships to Boston in his seven years with the team.
The Boston Celtics will need their lone healthy member of the Big Three, Kevin Garnett, against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Boston Celtics will play another opponent with whom they share a rich history, the Philadelphia 76ers. This matchup goes back to the days of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the 1960’s through the 1980s when Julius Erving and Larry Bird were the stars. The last time these two ancient rivals met in the postseason was 2002 when Allen Iverson was the star of the 76ers and the Celtics were in their first playoff appearance in seven years.
Both of these squads are defensive-minded led by head coaches who have been in the league for a long time. Doc Rivers and Doug Collins even took these jobs after stints as commentators for TNT.
The Celtics won Game 6 against the Atlanta Hawks by scoring just 83 points meanwhile the 76ers shot 40.7% in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.
These teams are built very differently. The Celtics are anchored by an aging core of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen while the 76ers are young and athletic just like the Hawks. These foes had different trajectories during the 2011-’12 season. The Sixers started 20-9 and were leading the Atlantic Division for most of the season, but they struggled down the stretch. Meanwhile the Celtics limped to begin the year with a 15-17 record at the All-Star break, but they surged to a 24-10 finish and won the Atlantic Division.
The 76ers leading scorers are their point guards, Jrue Holliday and Lou Williams, who comes off the bench. Holliday averaged 18.2 points per game and he shot 41,9% from the field, including 40.9% from behind the three-point line against the Bulls. Williams, who shot poorly from the field, is a capable shooter despite what he showed against the Bulls. Andre Iguodala is one of the best defenders in the league from both an individual and team standpoint. The majority of Iguodala’s scoring comes in transition offf turnovers, but he has hurt the Celtics in the past late in games with his ability to knock down shots.
Even though the Sixers took two out of three games in the regular season, that will not matter what happens in these next couple of weeks. The Sixers crushed the Celtics 103-71 on March 7th and 99-86 on March 23rd. Meanwhile the Celtics annihilated this same team on Easter Sunday by 24 points. After that blowout, Collins warned everybody “not to blink on the Celtics.”
The Celtics must protect the ball against the 76ers. Rivers made a point in his postgame press conference on Thursday by saying, “We can’t turn the ball over.” The Sixers averaged 9.8 turnovers while forcing 14.3 in their first round series win over the Bulls. When the Sixers get out in transition, they are tough to defend because their guards are good at moving the ball and finishing at the basket. They are quick and they have length. The Celtics cannot afford to play like they did when Garnett was on the pine in the fourth quarter in Game 6 against the Hawks when the Celtics were coughing up the ball.
Andy Brickley’s voice is familiar throughout New England and to those of us out-of-market fans who get the NESN broadcasts via the NHL’s Center Ice package. Brickley is the top TV analyst for Boston Bruins’ hockey games. Most fans know he was a part of Boston’s 1989-90 teams that reached the Stanley Cup Finals. What many fans may not know is how hard Brickley has had to work for everything in his career. To pay tribute to his effort and to acknowledge his tremendous contributions to the culture of Boston Bruins hockey is why he is BST&N’s Vintage Athlete Of The Month for April.
The need to prove himself to skeptics started right away in college. Brickley went to school at New Hampshire, but had to walk on the hockey team. He made the squad and played all four years, from 1979-82. By the end of his career he had made first-team All-American and led New Hampshire to the Frozen Four in his senior year.
Two years into his college career he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft, but by the skin of his teeth—Brickley was the final player chosen in a 210-player draft, going to the Philadelphia Flyers. He began his pro career there in the fall of 1982, but a year later he was traded to Pittsburgh, as part of a package involving multiple players and draft picks.
By rights, this should have been the point when his career took off. He scored 18 goals in 50 games, the highest goal output of his career and also had 12 assists. But he ended up demoted to the minor leagues for the egregious sin of breaking curfew. To put the early 1980s in perspective, this was a time when frequent reports of players’ cocaine addictions were becoming public—in all sports. Seen in that light, the idea of demoting Brickley because he broke curfew seems absurd beyond belief.
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