Gino's Jungle

With the Celtics rolling along on a seven game winning streak (five of those on the road) I'm going to take a moment to preview the upcoming week and touch on a bit of injury news.  The Celtics start at home tomorrow night against a young, upstart Milwaukee team before heading down to our nation's capital then on to Chicago (where I will be waiting) to finish the week.

Tuesday vs. Milwaukee - The energetic Bucks took advantage of a relatively easy schedule to start the season with a record of 8-3.  Since then they have lost seven of their last eight including games against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference - Orlando and Cleveland.  Their schedule doesn't get any easier on Tuesday night as Brandon Jennings leads them into the Jungle.  The Bucks are just 2-7 on the road so the Celtics should look to exploit a weak front court as the Bucks' trio of Bogut, Ilyasova and Delfino should be no match for Perkins, KG and Pierce.   With all-star Michael Redd out due to a knee injury the obvious key match-up falls on young stud Brandon Jennings vs. Rajon Rondo.  These two young guards should put on a show tomorrow night, but I expect Rondo's team to be the one walking out with a big W.

Thursday @ Washington - I would love to come out and say that the Celtics should be heading into Chicago with a nine game winning streak but this game scares me a bit.  The Wizards always seem to play hard against Boston and I expect this game to be more of the same.  Washington has a "Big Three" of their own in Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas.  They are currently just 7-12 on the season as Gilbert Arenas is still running the show and the rest of the team has yet to find any consistent play.  Despite beating Cleveland on November 18 the Wizards have lost to the new-look Bobcats and a Pistons team that is still trying to find their identity as well.  The key match-up involves Rondo again, this time going up against Gilbert Arenas.  You've heard the cliche "as Rondo goes so go the Celtics" but it seems to pertain to Washington and Arenas even more.  If Rondo keeps him in check, the Celtics should win.

Saturday @ Chicago - On to Chicago where I'll be waiting for the C's to show up for a game against the reeling Bulls.  Revenge could be a factor in this game as the Bulls were crushed in their first road game of the season in Boston, 118-90 on October 30.  Unfortunately for the Bulls, after starting the season with a modest 6-4 record they've lost seven of their last eight, including a loss at Cleveland where Joakim Noah and Lebron James got into a bit of an argument (God forbid!)  The Bulls have plenty of reasons to come out strong against the Celtics but with three games this week before Boston comes to town, I have a hard time believing they are going to put up enough of a fight to steal one.  Once again the key match-up will involve the point guards, as sophomore Derrick Rose will try to one-up Rajon Rondo as they each did multiple times in the playoffs last year.

The one thing I failed to mention in any of those predictions is the sad news that Marquis Daniels will miss some time with a sore wrist/thumb.  This is slightly discouraging since he seemed to be getting into a groove offensively and very discouraging because the back-up plan is Tony Allen.  Yes, that Tony Allen.  The Tony Allen that always finds a way to get a contract with the Boston Celtics.  The Tony Allen that I once saw bust up his knee because he thought it was a good idea to attempt a loud dunk WELL AFTER the whistle was blown.  This guy always seems to get injured, and what's more, he tries to do way, way, way too much on offense.  He is a turnover machine which made the Daniels' signing even better since we all thought TA would be off the floor for good.  Well here we are and our best option after Marquis Daniels is Tony Allen.  Bill Walker is up in Maine on a re-hab stint, J.R. Giddens is still too raw to fill the role, and Eddie House still buckles under some strong pressure from the defense.  I hope the team will not miss Marquis Daniels too much but I'm afraid the only way to guarantee that is to play Rondo for 48 minutes.  Maybe Tony Allen has learned to be more conservative on offense.  Maybe he won't take bad shots and throw bad passes.  Maybe he'll just focus on not fouling a 3-point shooter when they're up by two in the playoffs and there are three seconds left...maybe...but I'll believe it when I see it.

Check back on Sunday as I report from Chicago - hopefully I won't be eating my words!

Have you always wanted to share your opinions with people all around the web? Do you have a strong knowldedge of the NBA? Do you want to be part of a website that is continually growing?  Are you an inspiring writer?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you may be the person we are looking for. We are currently looking for between 2-3 new writers to contribute to the site often. The Gino's Jungle writing staff is continually growing and this could be your opportunity to be a part of something big. We have a lot of plans for this site but we are missing one thing right now, and that's you. Someone who can write quality articles for Celtics fans all around the world wide web.

Right now we are looking for someone to fill the following positions:

Celtics Beat Writer: Someone to cover the Celtics on a daily basis. This person would be the one responsible for putting up game previews, recaps, and breaking news. This is something that you would really need to be commited to but something that could pay great dividends in the end.

Staff Writer: Someone to write opinionated material on the Boston Celtics and other happenings around the NBA. The amount of writing for this position depends on how much you want to write. You can write an article a week or a article everyday.

Daily Links Cordinator: This position is available for both Gino's Jungle and Hardwood Houdini. The person in charge of this would be responsible for posting DAILY links from around the world wide web. We would give you a quality list of websites to search through and assist you in getting started.

If you are interested in any of these positions please contact us. You can email us at ginosjungle@gmail.com, contact us via twitter @ginosjungle, or drop us a comment on this article.

With the lack of Celtics news coming out these past few days it has been difficult to find things to write about. I was sitting in my room today trying to think of something unique that we could start doing. I came up with a series, "Looking Back Into The Past", which will highlight certain Boston Celtic legends careers while wearing the green jersey.

I was having trouble trying to decide who to start this series out with. I wanted the player to be someone I actually have seen play, and also someone recognizable to Celtics fans. There were guys like Antoine Walker, Dee Brown, Dana Barros, and even one of my personal favorites, David Wesley. There was one guy however that really stuck out to me as the perfect player to start this series off with.

You might know him best from a catch phrase used by a famous Celtics broadcaster, it went like this, "I Love Waltahhhhh". If you don't know who it is by now you are probably younger than I am, or going through six or seven tough years of your life. It is the man, the myth, and the legend, Walter McCarty.

Walter was picked up by the Celtics in 1997, as a result of a trade with the New York Knicks. Walter went on to spend seven and a half years with the Celtics, all coached under Rick Pitino, before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2005. During his stay in Boston, Walter was loved by everybody and a easy fan favorite. He was a versatile 6-10 forward who was famous his hard play and three point shooting.

The numbers that Walter put up during his stay aren't necessarily the greatest, however, Walter will go down in Celtics history for his hard work on and off the court. In seven and a half years in Boston Walter managed to average 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game per game. Not all-star number by far, but Walter was just one of those crowd favorites (like Scalabrine), and he will go down in history.

Besides basketball Walter has also been involved in the entertainment industry. In 1998 Walter appeared in the basketball classic, "He Got Game". In 2003 he also released a music album, and in 2006 he sang the National Anthem prior to the NBA All-star Game that year.

 Currently Walter is an assistant coach at Lousiville, under his former Celtic coach Rick Pitino. He has helped Lousiville get to the Elite Eight in both of his seasons as assistant coach, and last year helped the team to the Big East Championship. Walter is a great guy and I wish him all the success, he is one of my favorite Celtics of all time. I LOVE WALTAH!!!!

Stats provided by NBA.com

We have all heard the phrase "This is thunder and lightning, don't get caught up in the storm". Well tonight someone should have told the Oklahoma City Thunder that tropical storm Celtics was rolling into town with victory on their minds. The Celtics came into Oklahoma City on cruise control and didn't turn it off for a second. That Celtics used another great start, and a complete game effort to defeat the Thunder tonight by the score of 105-87.

Tonight the Celtics were again able to combine great play on both sides of the ball to pick up the W. For the fourth straight game the Celtics held their opponent to 90 points of fewer. This was something that was expected earlier in the season, but dropped off for a stretch before rediscovering the dominant defense recently.

The one problem that I had with the Celtics defense during their "slump" was the lack of perimeter defense. The lack of good hands in the face of shooters was a major concern to me. In the last four games, the Celtics have limited their opponents to horrible shooting percentages from behind the arc. The Heat, Bobcats, Spurs, and Thunder shot 13.3%, 18.2%, 12.5%, and 17% respectively from behind the arc. You can say that it is because of poor shooting from the opposition, but there is a trend here.

As far as tonight's game goes, the Celtics used an 18-2 run during the middle of the first quarter to increase the lead to fifteen and they never looked back. After increasing the lead to as much as 24 points we got to see some quality playing time from our bench players tonight. This kept most of the starters around the 30 minutes played mark, or less. The bench also got as deep as Lester Hudson, which is something we haven't really got to see very often.

Kevin Garnett once again proved to us that he's back. Someone I never expected to say KG was back did so tonight. Celtics fans around the entire Celtics nation will slowly be hopping back aboard the KG express before you know it. Like I said in my article over at Hardwood Houdini, "Where Kevin Garnett Knee Talks Never Stop", we are continually seeing great improvements from KG, just have patience and the old KG will soon return.

Paul Pierce also chipped in 21 points tonight, all of which came in the first quarter. Pierce kept pace with his remarkable shooting performance so far this season, going 6-11 from the field and 3-6 from behind the arc. Kendrick Perkins also played another great game (13 points 8 Rebounds) giving people more reasons to put him on their all-star ballots. Rasheed Wallace (10pts) and Eddie House (11pts) also came off the bench tonight to have good games of their own.

Overall, this was a great way to finish up the road trip and head back to beantown. The Celtics have some time to rest for a few days before getting back into the action against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. Make sure to check into Gino's Jungle from now until that for more opinions on the C's play of late. Also make sure to check the site Tuesday for more info about our live chat that is quickly becoming a fun place to hang out during the game.

Photos via Larry W. Smith/NBAE via Getty Images

CELTICS!  HOO-RAH! CELTICS! HOO-RAH!  CELTICS! HOO-RAH! ONE, TWO, THREE, UBUNTU!!

Have I lost my mind?  No, that's the chant the Celtics do before they come out of the tunnel before each game and it seems to have hit home tonight.  Now that I got that out of my system, let's recap what you were watching for in the first half:

1st Quarter:

• Paul Pierce on Kevin Durant - Both of these guys are firing on all cylinders - just as the rest of their respective teams are.  Both hit double digits in the first quarter and each team shot over 60%.
  
• Stamina of the Celtics/Celtics bench - The starters got out to a big lead so the bench came in with three- to four minutes left in the quarter.  The bench kept the lead at 31-20 after one but as I write this Pierce is coming back early in the second quarter.  We'll see how this plays out.
• KG on the offensive end - KG started hot tonight but only took 3 shots in the first quarter.  He did lend a hand on offense, dishing out 3 assists.
• Sheed for three - He hasn't taken a three yet but also hasn't really seen any open looks from behind the arc.  He extended the lead to 11 with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

In the 2nd quarter things didn't change a whole lot.  Pierce and Durant both stayed hot, scoring 21 and 22 respectively.  Both teams are still shooting close to 60% with the Celtics being more successful behind the 3-point arc.  The Celtics don't seem to be slowing down as Mike and Donny mentioned to end the half.   When a team is playing this well they don't care how many games in a row they've played, they just want to get back out there.

Oklahoma City started leaving KG open in the 2nd quarter and he made them pay, knocking down 18 footers with ease and ending the half with twelve points on 5-6 shooting.  The Celtics spread it around getting 13 points from Kendrick Perkins who was 5-5 from the field.

Three things to watch for in the second half:

• Will anyone play any defense??  The Celtics have six steals so far but have not blocked a shot and OKC is shooting 57% from the floor.  The Celtics are just as hot but the first team to play defense will have the edge to close this one out.
• Will the Celtics build a big enough lead to see Giddens, Hudson and Scal?
• Will Kevin Durant and Jeff Green sit down the rest of the way?  They've played 20 and 22 minutes respectively and will probably have to stay on the floor another 20-23 minutes each if the Thunder are going to have a chance in this one.

     @       

Tonight the Celtics will be in Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder for the 4th and final game of the road trip. The Thunder are coming off a victory against the 76ers and stand at 10-8. The Celtics hold a 6 game win streak and will be looking to push it to 7, before heading home for a game against the Bucks on Tuesday at the Garden. OKC is a young and uptempo team as you may know, so the Celtics will have to try and limit the pace as much as possible so they don't get into a fast break competition.

What to watch for:

• Paul Pierce on Kevin Durant- Expect Pierce to contain, but in no way STOP Durant from scoring atleast 20 tonight. How can he not? He puts up about 20 shots a game.
• Stamina of the Celtics. The starters had to play more minutes than hoped for last night, and are on the end of a back to back playing a rested team with young legs.
• KG to keep rolling on the offensive end while being matched up against Jeff Green.
• Celtics bench will need to step up tonight to take some of the stress off the shoulders of the starters.
• Sheed to take open threes. He has gotten in a habit of making 1 and thinking he is on fire and throwing one up with plenty of time left on the shot clock.

Stop by during the game to chat in our Live chat where you can comment on the game by clicking the Celtics Live Chat tab. Also check in tomorrow morning for our recap and opinion on what we saw in the game.

CELTICS 90 SPURS 83

Sometimes we take for granted wins on the road. This game could be one of them. Realistically this game should not have even been close coming down the stretch. For almost every minute the complete starting 5 were in the game, the Spurs were being out hustled, and were playing almost 2 talent levels below the Celtics. When things got a little out of hand was when the majority of the players in the game were players off the bench. This was when the defense got sloppy, and on the offensive ends there were much more turnovers. Everytime the starters were in, they would get a big lead, only to be demolished when the bench stepped back on the floor. This was the up and down game that ran throughout the night.

The C's were lead in large part by Kevin Garnett. Lets face it, KG has turned into an absolute animal. This energy- this passion- this reborn meaning to playing the game was lost in last years season. Garnett is playing with the same intensity he did in 07-08. With that, he helped lead the C's tonight with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. We noticed he was knocking down jumpers, but most of all we saw his vision. He was getting the ball to Perkins to perfectly set him up for a score. The other player who was perfectly setting people up was Rajon Rondo. Rondo finished the night with 12 assists, and was playing his up tempo, dribble under the hoop and back out the other side, style of play. Like usual, when he was in the game there was much more movement, and confusion by the opponents.

One thing we have noticed, and we saw it in tonights game as well as the past couple of games, is the Celtics defense getting back into form. The past three games the Celtics have given up 83, 90, and 85 points. This is in sharp contrast to the previous 3 games in which they gave up 100+ points. The rotations are much more smoother, but at the same time teams are not draining every shot they take. The saying is, "they are NBA players they will make it when they are open". Well, yes and no. Sometimes being too far open gives them too much time to think, thus leading to a miss. This was the case in several situations tonight. We left them wide open, in fact at times ran away from them, and in return they missed (sometimes very badly). To put it simple, regardless to whether or not it is the NBA, not all open shots fall, and in the tough stretch to this season, every open shot did fall- in addition to every contested shot.

As I said to begin the post, we could overlook the 7 point victory against a very good Spurs team, at a very tough place to play. The Celtics could have won by much more. Oh well, they didn't. I don't think our expectations should always be that we need to clean house when our opponents are playing "bad". We did what it took, got our 6th victory in a row, 3 out of 3 so far on this road trip, and head into Oklahoma City tomorrow night looking for 7 in a row, and a clean sweep of the trip. All is good at 15-4.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Tonight we will again be hosting the weekly edition of the Celtics Stuff Live postgame show. Make sure to tune in following the ending of the Celtics and Spurs game tonight. Showtime is set for 11pm EST.

Justin, Jon, and Kevin will be talking about the game and taking your calls. They are very good people so don’t be afraid to call in, and please make sure to mention your listening from Gino's Jungle.

To listen to the show click the "CSL Postgame Show" tab at the top of the screen.

Instead of doing a links post tonight I thought I would just compile a few of today's biggest NBA headlines, along with quotes from around the web. I'm not sure if this will start being a daily occurance or not, but I thought it would be something different to try out. Let us know if you like the idea. Without further ado, here is today's biggest news stories - as seen by your favorite dancing machine, Gino.

Allen Iverson accepts a one-year non-guaranteed deal to return to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Philadelphia Inquirer - The 76ers and Allen Iverson were reunited today, with the 34-year-old former All-Star agreeing to a non-guaranteed contract for the rest of this season. Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski did not comment on terms of the agreement with Iverson, but the contract is for a prorated amount of the $1.3 million veteran's minimum, roughly $600,000 to $650,000, which would become guaranteed for the remainder of the season if Iverson remained on the roster Jan. 10.

Ron Artest says he drank Hennesey at halftime during his days in Chicago.

Associated Press - Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest has said that he drank alcohol during games when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls. "I used to drink Hennessy at halftime," Artest said in an interview with Sporting News. "I (kept it) in my locker. I'd just walk to the liquor store (near the stadium) and get it."

The New Jersey Nets set the record tonight for the worst start in NBA history, atleast they are being noticed for something.

NetsAreScorching - Well, the Nets made history tonight in their 117-101 loss to the Mavericks (14-5). By falling to 0-18, the Nets now solely own the record for the worst start in NBA history. I would say congratulations are in order, but my gallow’s humor got used up in the second quarter tonight.So about that second quarter – the Mavericks scored 49 points on 17-19 shooting. That’s not a typo.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas set the Cavaliers record for most games played tonight.

ESPN - Zydrunas Ilgauskas set a Cavaliers record for games played, and the Cleveland fans showered him with appreciation for it. As for the appreciation between Ilgauskas and the franchise he's represented for the past 13 years, that still seems in short supply at the moment.

As for Celtics news, there is not much of it. Rasheed's technical foul situation took most of the spotlight today, as far as Celtics news is concerned.

Boston Herald - Doc Rivers often says he doesn’t want to take the passion out of Rasheed Wallace’s game. But even the Celtics coach had to express concern when Wallace, who leads the NBA with eight technical fouls, picked up his third in three games in last night’s 108-90 rout of the Bobcats.

So there are a couple of today's biggest headlines around the NBA. If there were any other major news stories then apparently Gino was dancing to much to notice. Hope everyone enjoys this new idea I had, and I hope you enjoy your Thursday.

I wasn't planning on posting anything here tonight but I just got back from the Bruins game and thought this would be a good time to compare the atmosphere in the Garden during a Bruins game, to that of my beloved Celtics.

I'll take a moment to preface this post by saying that I am not a very knowledgable hockey fan.  I know the game sort of well, but I don't know all the rules, penalties, or types of players that comprise a good team.  I also don't know much about the opposing teams, and I couldn't name half the Bruins players by number when they were on the ice.  With that being said (any "Curb" fans out there?) there were some major differences I noticed tonight that in the end made me appreciate the Celtics and their fans even more than I already did.

You may be wondering if this is going to be a few paragraphs of me bashing the Bruins and their fans, and I assure you that is not going to happen.  What I will say is that the atmosphere at a Celtics game is definitely more exciting over the course of a game.

The Bruins scored 4 goals tonight including newly extended center Marc Savard's 200th of his young career.  They played pretty good defense topped off by some outstanding saves from the consistent Tim Thomas.  They played a sound, all-around hockey game and looked better than their opponent from the second the puck dropped.  Despite all that, I found myself drifting away from the game and looking at the clock, or my cell phone during the action.

The excitement at Bruins games comes in quick spurts.  Goals are fast, hits happen quickly and great saves can occur with the flick of a wrist.  When these things happen the intensity level of the crowd is seldom matched - my problem is that it doesn't last long enough.  Part of this is due to the timing of the game.  Hockey plays 60 minutes of game time with 34 total minutes of downtime between periods.  Basketball on the other hand, is 48 minutes of game time with about 18 total minutes of downtime between quarters.  There always seems to be something going on at a Celtics game in a shorter period of time, while the Bruins game is more drawn out and the great plays come less often.

On top of all of this was the somewhat shocking amount of empty seats in the house tonight.  The Bruins are starting to catch fire again and there were plenty of seats available for this game tonight.  Where are all the fans??  I can't remember the last time I saw courtside seats empty for an entire game, or whole rows in the balcony empty for the first 20 minutes of game time when the Garden turns into the Jungle.

All of this is attributed to the fact that I am not a die-hard Bruins fan.  The intense Bruins fans that actually showed up tonight were loud, excited and I definitely had a great time. 

There was one instance tonight where I was very impressed by a Bruins fan.  In the section next to us, some people were trying to get "the wave" started.  This has been happening at Celtics games recently as well, and I don't like it one bit.  It happened at Madison Square Garden when I was there recently and I felt nothing but awkwardness.  "The wave" should be saved for baseball games and other select outdoor arenas.  One diehard Bruins fan did something about it tonight though, screaming "save it for Fenway" multiple times until they realized it wasn't going to work and stopped their feeble attempt.

Apparently we're not THAT different afterall.

(Picture via DGA Productions)

(Picture via YahooSports)