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Celtics Crush Lakers As Nemo Bears Down On New England

February 8, 2013 By

The Celtics destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers last night at TD Garden 116-95 in an impressive display of ball movement and aggressive defense, while the Lakers folded quickly, with only Kobe Bryant (27 points) being competitive.

Check all the coverage at Celticslinks.com.

While many are eager to rush and make the statement that the Celtics are better without Rajon Rondo, the truth is that they changed their entire style of play when he went down, and it’s working. I don’t see how that is a reflection on Rondo. It’s a credit to the other players who have stepped up, and the coaching staff that has made the adjustments. It remains to be seen whether this level can be sustained.

The TNT broadcast last night had some good observations on the Celtics.

A few media notes this morning before I go to recheck my milk, bread and beer stockpile.

WEEI convenes focus group of Sport Hub listeners – Chad Finn has Entercom conducting a study to look for ideas to improve their sinking sports radio product. Finn has a few suggestions of his own.

In addition to the focus groups Finn writes about, Entercom has also been sending out email surveys, one of which I received this week. The focus on that survey was primarily on social media and technology, how people listen to the station, and how important interaction with shows and hosts via Facebook, Twitter and the like is to the listeners.

If their strategy for winning back listeners involves featuring interaction with @JohnDennisWeei on Twitter, they may want to rethink things.

Big following for Boston Celtics’ voice Sean Grande – Bill Doyle looks at how the Celtics voice uses Twitter to engage and inform listeners, and to enhance the broadcast experience, like the equivalent of TV graphics. You can follow Grande at @SeanGrandePBP

As we sit through the blizzard over the next 36 hours or so, the Red Sox equipment truck has arrived in Ft. Myers and preparations are being made for the start of spring training early next week. NESN and CSNNE announced their Red Sox spring training coverage plans this week.

NESN’s Spring Training Telecast Schedule – The TV home of the Red Sox starts things on Sunday, the beginning of 49 days of coverage. NESN Daily will broadcast live from JetBlue Park at Fenway South, Dennis and Callahan arrive on Feb. 13th, and there will be 14 spring training games on NESN, starting on Feb 23rd.

Comcast SportsNet New England’s Spring Training Coverage – CSNNE will be on-site in Ft. Myers from Feb 10th through the 25th, with Chevrolet SportsNet Central, UNO’s Sports Tonight and special editions of The Baseball Show Presented by Twin River Casino.

Stay warm and safe, everyone.

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • John

    It’s like you folks are rooting for the Celtics to not do well, so your your argument that the team is NOT better without Rondo will still stand.

    • http://www.bostonsportsmediawatch.com/ bsmfan

      From reading/seeing the reaction, I think certain “Green Teamers” fall into this quandary. They want the Celtics to win but are enraged that every win this year will just fuel the anti-Rondo crowd.

      The comments/posts since the injury have reflected it. I thought it was comical that, almost like politics, media members had to declare their “affiliation”, find any and whatever reason to strengthen it, and battle it out via sniping at the folks on the other side. The responsible media members laid out numbers (see the Grantland link from Zach Lowe) that show good/bad but conclude with something along the lines of the playoffs being the place where you really will see what is value is (good or bad).

  • John

    I think it is hard to argue that the Celtics are not playing better now than they were with Rajon Rondo, but I think that is more of an indictment on Danny Ainge. Rondo is the best player on the team and Danny should have been acquiring players around him that would benefit from Rondo’s style of play. For whatever reason, Jeff Green, JET, and Courtney Lee were not able to raise their game with Rondo out there. Without him, all three have stepped up and been huge reasons behind the win streak. I also think that Paul Pierce was able to take a step back with Rondo on the court, since PP was not asked to do as much and I think his overall game suffered from that. With Rondo out, PP has taken a more active role in the offense and that has improved his overall game.

    • John

      With that being said (that other role players on the team have stepped up) doesn’t that mean that the team IS playing better, and might actually be better, without Rondo? For this team to contend, Pierce has to step up and be a big part of the offense. Rondo’s absence is allowing all of these things to happen.

  • Bullock

    Bruce, normally I’m right there with you on Rondo. Especially since I think the first time I hear the “Rondo is an a-hole” storyline was on Felger’s show. But if any of the blowhards took a minute to look a little deeper, they’d see it’s actually two separate stories. First, is Rondo a little bit of a melodramatic hot-headed drama queen obsessed with his own numbers? I certainly think so, but that is NOT an indictment on him. That just makes him a player in the NBA. The more important story is the fact when Rondo was out there the team was built around the assist — the most overrated statistic in basketball — and that simply isn’t going to get it done. One guy racking up 17 assists does not make everyone else on the court better.

    What worries me more with the Celtics is the injury to Sulligner. It’s not like he was Shaq out there, but he’s a first-year player who showed signs of improvement game to game. And in his absence, the team will be asking a lot of an aged KG. How long can KG perform at his current rate before an injury hits him?

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  • http://www.bostonsportsmediawatch.com/ bsmfan

    I thought the reference to the Finn article would get a ton of comments right away, but I guess not.

    I wonder if this guy is the same source as Finn’s (see comment #1) http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=227809.0

    First, amazing that it took WEEI this long to realize it had an issue when it came to younger listeners but step #1. Since Finn focuses it mainly on D+C, I’ll go there. I just hope that this thread/comment section doesn’t become a usual “blah and blah suck. replace X with Y.” I’ll give my own solutions:

    To me, when it comes to comparing each slot, the 6-10 is starkest in contrast. I thought that WEEI was fine with this as it seems like, just guessing from the age of the callers, there had to be 20+ years in difference (yes, I understand how inexact this is). Let T+R cleanup on the younger folks and D+C keep their loyal, older following. The same is reflected when I bring up sports talk as conversation and they’re listeners. The survey reflects this. Most of the time, the younger folks issue some variant of the “mothballs come out of my speakers listening to WEEI”.

    Finn mentions some impending change, at least with the D of D+C.

    “Callahan doesn’t exactly exude grace when opinions diverge from his own, but he’s a compelling personality who comes across as more likable when he’s paired with someone who challenges him. Dennis, the morning radio equivalent of your father’s Oldsmobile, too often does not.”

    Quite a few of us have chimed in what a difference even Dale (yes, I know some people here do not like him) makes w/Gerry. However, I don’t think that will sell anyone from T+R. The program still has a similar “older” feel. I think part of the solution is with Kevin Winter, as he has potential but seems to always be held back by having to conform to D or C. Pair Winter with Jen Royale (as much as I’m not a fan) or Minihane. Entirely different show that is younger, even younger than T+R. Entirely different feel, which I think could possibly take some of the T+R crowd away. It would at least have a “younger” feel and stand a much better chance. If you want to attract younger, you have to act/look/feel younger. Replacing only one and trying to act like the show is entirely different won’t fool/move anyone due to the existing contrast.

    In the “What to do with D and C?” that Bruce penned a month ago, I suggested that D+C move over to RKO and do some type of political/sports show there in the morning. Besides the difference on your dial, I don’t think anyone would notice a difference.

    Finn mentions that Trenni/Jessica Moran were in for tryouts but wouldn’t that require they go from f/t->p/t @ CSNNE, if they stayed, and wouldn’t they rather wind up on TSH if they were to go the radio route unless WEEI offered them a contract?

    • http://twitter.com/iamjoonlee Joon Lee

      Neumeier and Curran are both CSNNE. Curran is a regular on EEI and Neumy fills in from time to time.

      • http://www.facebook.com/michael.sutherland.90410 Michael Sutherland

        Neumie and Dale were partners back in the day, before Holley arrived on the scene. I do like Dale on the radio, a lot, but Neumeier isn’t going to solve the age problem. I think EEI could nail a couple of birds with one stone here: break up that awkward afternoon lack of chemistry between Ordway and Holley, and fix their morning drag: pair Holley with sometime co-host Steve Burton. Of course, that would open a hole in the afternoon, but I’d listen to knowledgable sports talk with Holley & Burton instead of T&R’s junior-high mischief any day. I’ll think about what I’d do with the PM slot…

    • collis jones

      I just hope that this thread/comment section doesn’t become a usual
      “blah and blah suck. replace X with Y.” I’ll give my own solutions:
      Here’s a suggestion/solution; Get a life.

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