Gino's Jungle

In our previous season, we were mocked by the basketball gods, that smote us down with several major injuries to keyplayers. This season -so far- we have other, more controllable hardships to overcome. There have been many complaints about our defensive effort, as well as our three point shooting percentage. Since this is my first post from the Jungle, I'll cover the regular players on our team and lay upon you my expectations and opinions.

Team Defense

First and foremost, there's the team. 'Teamgeist¹' is our most important player; without him, the Celtics are like the Cavaliers without LeBron James, like the Miami heat (who happen to be going downby our hands this very evening) without Dwayne Wade. If Ubuntu isn't playing, we consist of a group of very able, but blindfolded basketball greats. Luckily, Ubuntu has found its way unto the court every single night, albeit mainly on the defensive end. For some reason lately we've been unable to close the glaring holes in our defense and this has frustrated everyone but our adversaries.

That being said, we needn't worry yet. There's one thing we should keep in mind: this is just the regular season. What we are currently failing at on defense, is consistancy. We have the ability, and we practice it every single night; we just don't do it for 48 minutes straight. That's a minor thing, and come playoffs we will show the entire league that we can defend like we did in our latest banner-season.

Kevin Garnett

After sustaining that knee injury, Kevin hasn't been his regular self. He has been getting beat on D by younger and more athletic players, but he has shown us progression. Every now and then he gets up and down the court with a slight limp, or he'll get up from the ground a bit wobbly, but he'll never let his head hang and his energy is backup at 100%. Don't underestimate the time it takes to get back from major surgery, but don't fear either; he will be back.

Paul Pierce

At the very least, our team captain is a nominee for 'most underestimated player in the league'. On several occasions this season he has shown us that his competiteveness allow him to drag us out of messy games with the W. He has lost weight, gained hops and is as willing to sacrifice more for the team as ever.

Ray Allen

Ray Ray hasn't been able to make the headlines lately, unless the title of the piece had "shooting slump" in it. This doesn't however mean that Ray isn't producing. He has been a bit prone to turning overthe ball, and indeed his three point percentage is below average, but he's been taking it to the hole a lot more than he used to. We have actually had the pleasure of seeing Ray slam it down on a couple of occasions. As for the three point percentage: it will pick up, and the turnovers will disappear when he doesn't have to dribble into the paint anymore.

Kendrick Perkins

If there's a single person on this team that doesn't get enough attention for what he brings night-in night-out, it's the big omnious precense we have at our center position. The frowning mountain named Perkins has been, to use Doc's favorite word: "phenomenal". He has developed a fade-away jumper, a midrange jumper from the side of the basket and has been his usual self on defense. Perkins is, by far, our most consistent factor.

Rajon Rondo

"As Rondo goes..." - about 90% of all Celtic fans should be able tofinish this line before it even finishes "... our team goes." It seems a cliche already, but it's the truth. When Rondo has a good game, our team wins. His defense has been a bit of an issue, with him gambling on half of the posessions, and unfortunately, on offense it's been much the same. When he does step up though, wonderful things happen, and we can be sure he'll add to his triple-double count this year.

Rasheed Wallace

When you speak of our shooting slump, you must include Rasheed into the conversation. However, shooting percentages tend to average out over a season and seeing the insane number of easy looks he is getting,we can be sure he'll pull his percentage back up in no-time. He's still solid when he shoots from the paint, and he's been doing a lot of great stuff on defense, which we can expect from him every single game.

Eddie House

Eddie has been handling the ball a bit too much this season,which is hurting his three point shooting. His strength lies in the catch-and-shoot, and he should be running around creating looks instead of handling the ball. Luckily, this is easy to fix.

Shelden Williams

Rebounds'r'us. Shelden has been doing great and is not wasting any time in becoming one with this team. Powe might be a Cavalier, but right now we have a worthy substitute.

Marquis Daniels

Like Rasheed, Marquis has done a lot of the smaller things that don't end up on the box score. He has been creating on offense, and is hardly turning over the ball. Also, he has shown to be a capable backup guard, that can bring up the ball to give Eddie more freedom as a shooting guard. Credit Danny Ainge for picking up this gem of a backup.

All together

Put the above together, and we're set for a remarkable season. Come playoffs we'll have our stuff together, and we really don't have to worry about home court. Lets get our act together, our game perfected and the rest, the wins, they will come.

On to Miami we go, let's have it!

¹ Teamgeist: German word for "Team Spirit".