Danny Ainge announced today on an interview with WEEI’s “The Big Show” that point guard Rajon Rondo has been suspended for two games by the NBA following and altercation with Kris Humphires of the Brooklyn Nets last night. Humphries fouled Kevin Garnett on the way to the basket, and Rondo pushed Humphries in retaliation. A brawl ensued as the action spilled into the stands. Rondo will miss games against Portland at home and the Bucks and Milwaukee. The league as not released any information regarding whether Humphries will face any kind of punishment, but one would assume that this would be the case. Gerald Wallace and Kevin Garnett could also be fined.

This suspension seems rather lenient given Rondo’s history with the league. If you remember, Rondo received a two game suspension last year for throwing a ball at an official during a game in Detroit. He also received a one game suspension for bumping a referee in Game 1 of Boston’s first round playoff series with Atlanta.

But most of all, I’m pissed because I saw this coming last week.  While at the game on Saturday the C’s were blowing out the Raptors, and Doc had emptied his bench; except for Darko.  This seemed odd to me, and as I peered down at him there, I could tell something was off.  In fact, I even wrote this in an email to some of my colleagues the next day:

 ”Watching Darko on the bench late in the 4th quarter at the Garden yesterday it looked like he knew there was zero chance he was playing, even though they we’re up 20.  He was sitting back with his legs out, almost bored, uninvolved in the game. Not sure what this means, but it’s not a good sign.”

If only I’d published it then… I also have a feeling there’s more to this story than we know right now.

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Amazingly in the final 3:12 of the game he assisted on each of the C’s final four field goals, and finished the night with 10.*  His streak of games with ten or more lives to see another day, now at 31.  The Celtics also held on for a 101-95 victory.  I have to admit though, the win was the secondary priority for me.  Despite the fact that I wrote about this a week ago, I wasn’t sure if I actually believed it myself until it came right down to it.  In the final minute of the game both the win and the streak were on the line, and the streak felt more important.

Last week the records were not readily available.  But as I assumed, now that Rondo’s streak is among the all time best (see picture), the media has figured it out.

Rondo also did something else against the Bulls that you very rarely see in an NBA game: He led Boston in points (20), rebounds (9), assists (10), and steals (5).

* It may actually be 11; with 4:54 to go Jason Terry hit a jumper and Pierce was credited with an assist, but it was actually Rondo who passed him the ball.  I didn’t think the pass was worthy of an assist, but if it was then Rondo actually assisted on Boston’s final five baskets.

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There were at least 3 or 4 plays where Rondo found a teammate wide open at the hoop, but missed out on an assist due to a foul on the layup attempt.  A player shouldn’t lose a potential assist just because the guy he passes to gets fouled.  If the shooter hits the free throws and the points still go one the board, why doesn’t the passer still get the credit?  Or if one of two foul shots are made, there could be half an assist awarded.

The scene pictured is a perfect example.  Kevin Garnett got shoved, then went to the line and knocked down a pair.   But Rondo’s pass is forgotten in the box score.

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Rondo dropped 11 dimes in the loss.

Early in the 3rd quarter of Friday night’s home opener the Celtics trailed the Bucks by twenty, 55-35.  I pointed up at the Garden scoreboard and said “Rondo only has 3 assists.  His streak might end.”  The Boston point guard has had 10 or more assists in 26 straight games (the 6th longest such streak in NBA history; here’s the all-time list from my esteemed colleague @StatsAdam).  Shortly after that I got annoyed when Rondo took a jump shot, “You can’t get assists by shooting!”  To this my buddy replied “You’re too worried about stats.  All that matters is wins and a championship.”

Well, the C’s lost, but Rondo ended up with 11 assists.  Obviously I wish Boston had won, but I was excited to see his streak continue (although a few of the assists in the 4th quarter were a bit questionable, and definitely the product of a home town scorekeeper aware of the situation).  And to be honest, if given the choice, I’m not sure I would have traded the streak ending for a victory.

I know that sounds ridiculous, and luckily I don’t think Rajon or any of the other players would agree with me. But in the long run, I think whether or not the Celtics won last night will have zero effect on the final outcome of the season.  If they don’t win the title, nobody’s going to be blaming it on a loss in game #2.

But you can’t have a championship every year, and the stats do matter.  Near record streaks are fun to watch, and part of the entertainment of sports.   Your team won’t win all the time, so it makes for a better fan experience when there’s other things besides victories that are important.

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The team headed off on their preseason trip to Europe. The last time they did that they won a title.

A year ago I guessed the Celtics would go 37-29, and they did two games better.  A lot of the same factors come into play when speculating on how the team will finish this year.  Boston is a well coached veteran squad that knows exactly what they are capable of.  They will not feel the need to try to prove themselves during the regular season.

And as we saw last spring, come playoff time Doc will choose health and rest over home court advantage if necessary.  I’m sure we’d all probably like to see Coach Rivers sacrifice a win or two here and there in order to give some extra rest to Pierce and Garnett along the way as well.  Although recent history and past numbers indicate that may not actually happen.

I do believe the Celtics will win what is sure to be an improved Atlantic Division (the Knicks, Nets, and Sixers all have legitimate division title aspirations).  My guess is this Boston team is probably capable of winning around 57-58 games, but could still accomplish what they want with 47 or 48.  Final prediction?  52-30.  In the post season I expect to see the C’s again battling the Heat for the conference title, and the right to face either LA or OKC in the Finals.  I can’t get my heart and my head to agree on who wins though, so I’ll leave it at that.  I guess it’s a battle between “Lucid” and “Fan.”

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- Jason Terry hit 18 of 26 three’s, 69%.  Obviously he won’t keep that up, but it definitely bodes well for the new shooting guard.  Paul Pierce also made more than half his attempts from downtown, 14-27.  By comparison our old friend Ray down in Miami has connected on just 10 of 29 (35%) through 7 exhibition games (the Heat have one more tonight).

Will Green continue to be a major contributor?

- Rookie Jared Sullinger led the C’s in rebounding, averaging 7 per game.  I’m going to go out on a limb and predict he’ll lead the team during the regular season as well.  He also pulled down 20 offensive rebounds in 8 games, nearly a third of the team’s total (66), and more than double the next highest player (fellow rookie Kris Joseph with 9).  While this is definitely an impressive stat, I’m going to chalk it up mostly to the youthful exuberance.  Offensive boards are all about effort, and obviously the rookies care more and try harder during the preseason than veterans do; Kevin Garnett had just one offensive rebound.

- Rondo led the Celtics in minutes played, which is almost certain to happen during the season as well.  But second on the team was Jeff Green, a bit of a surprise.

- The same was also true for scoring; Pierce topped the C’s by averaging 15 points a game (also likely to continue in the regular season), while Green was second at 13.9 PPG.  Hopefully the minutes and scoring are an indication of big things to come from Green when the games actually start counting next week.

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I’ll be the first to admit that you can’t really infer much based on observations of a couple preseason games in Europe against teams from leagues we know nothing about.  As good as Jeff Green and Jared Sullinger looked across the pond, I’m going to withhold from making any judgement until I see them go up against real live NBA competition.

But, there is one facet of the game in which the quality of the opponent makes absolutely no difference: Free throw shooting.  And so far this preseason, Rajon Rondo has yet to miss.  He’s 8-8 from the charity stripe through two games.  I know that’s a very small sample, but it also could be a sign of things to come.  If this is the year Rondo finally turns into the shooter I’ve always believed he could be, the rest of the NBA is totally screwed.

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Last year that was Greg Stiemsma, a fan favortite who was heavily relied on during the regular season as the Boston bigs battled through injuries. To put this kindly to Darko, let’s just hope the C’s stay healthier in 2012-13. Check out what he’ll look like in green on the left. (h/t: CelticsLife)

If you go to a lot of games it’s easy to get pretty bored of little kids playing basketball, which last season seemed to be the intermission entertainment more often than not.  Once in a while they’ll have an old fashioned playground game of knockout between some randomly selected contestants, and that at least provides a little variety.  Earlier in the summer I wrote a piece suggesting how they could improve the “half court shot” contest.  I’m not much of a fan of guys playing drums on plastic buckets, and you can see usually see that outside North Station as you leave the game anyway.

Occasionally the Celtics splurge and actually spend a little bit of money, and that’s where the acts really get good.  There’s a group of people who wear skis and jump on trampolines that are very impressive.  One couple does a spectacular schtick where they change clothes unbelievably fast.  But for my money, nothing beats the Red Panda Acrobat.  Her background music gets me pumped too.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now obviously the bowls must be very heavily weighted on the bottom in order to all land and stack like that; but still this blows my mind a little.

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That’s right, folks, Scal is back. Boston’s favorite son (or red-headed step child) will return to the hub this fall to be a part of the Celtics. Only he won’t be blocking shots and defending power forwards or centers. Scalabrine told Y! Sports earlier this week that he will become a part of CSNNE’s regional Celtics broadcasts, serving as the color analyst alongside Mike Gorman for 11 games this year, as well as doing some studio work. What this means for Celtics fans is that for 11 games this season, we will be relieved of hearing Tommy Heinson complain about referees and make mountains out of molehills, or in our case, Bill Russell out of Greg Stiemsma. Seriously, Tommy is an all-time Celtic and one of the greatest basketball people the organization has ever seen, but HE IS NOT A BROADCASTER. The guy gets paid to say “That’s terrible!” and “He got hit on theuh ahhm there.”. It’s painful. Scal should offer a much needed break from life with Tommy. Not to mention everybody loves Scal, and if you don’t you’re probably this guy. Our editor Stephen Bailey seems to think this is the best thing to happen to the Celtics since this happened, and you know what? He’s right!

Barnes is currently a free agent and is rumored to be exploring his options outside of L.A. One of those teams rumored to be inquiring about his services is our beloved Celtics, according to Rant.com.

Oh, and there’s this too:

Maaaaan y'all gonna be mad when you hear this

September 6, 2012 12:39 pm via UberSocial for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@Matt_Barnes22

Matt Barnes

In each game at some point during a time out the P.A. announcer gets the crowd all excited by saying “Who wants a t-shirt?”  The mascot “Lucky” and a number of cheerleaders then hurl tightly rolled up shirts into the crowd.  The fans jump to their feet eagerly hoping to grab one.  The past few seasons I haven’t even bothered to stand up anymore.  I’ve been going to games for 5 years, and not only have I never gotten one, I haven’t even been remotely close.  In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing anyone in my entire section catch one.

Seriously, how far do you think these girls can throw those things?

My seats are in the “loge,” section 8, about half way between the floor and the balcony.  The vast majority of the shirts are tossed from the court and never make it beyond the first several rows (I could go on a rant about how ridiculous it is that nearly all the free shirts end up in the hands of people who’s tickets are in the 3 and 4 figure price range); there’s only so far a human being can throw a balled up piece of clothing.

In order to make it look like everybody has a fair chance they do send a couple of the cheerleaders up to the balcony to fling them from the aisles.  In the past they also had a giant sling shot, and then later a “t-shirt cannon,” but for some reason both of those are no longer used.  It didn’t make much of a difference anyway, they only ever launched a few of them into the balcony, and never the loge.

So my suggestion to the Celtics: Pay a little more attention to the fact that the entire middle area of the arena never gets any shirts, and do something about it (maybe let some fall from the rafters, like they do with the parachute drop?).  That and hold tryouts before you just let any random old person attempt the half court shot contest.

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The news broke late last night: Dwight Howard is a Laker. This should undoubtedly change the landscape of the NBA for years to come. Not only do the Lakers have a legitimate shot at a title right now, with a core lead by Kobe Bryant, Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, but they have their dominant force of the future. Kobe is getting old, and nobody knows how much longer he’s going to be able to play at the level that we’re accustomed to seeing. When he does retire sometime in the next five years, the Lakers will be Dwight’s team, provided he signs an extension at the end of this season. Fortunately for us Celtics fans over here in Boston, the acquisition of Howard by L.A. doesn’t really mean that much. The C’s and Lakers meet twice a year in games that are, for the most part, unimportant. Obviously, the deal becomes huge if the Celtics and Lakers are to meet in the NBA Finals again, but as far as making a deep playoff run (depending on how you define that), the C’s are going to be entirely unaffected by the Lakers.

What makes this deal a killer for the Celtics is the acquisition of Andrew Bynum by the Philadelphia 76ers. Bynum has given the C’s problems throughout his career, essentially ending Boston’s title hopes in 2010. Everybody knows that the Celtics glaring weakness is rebounding, and with Bynum now playing inside the Atlantic Division, it could be exposed all season long. Boston certainly has more depth than Philly, which means they should be able to win the division (although that won’t be easy with the new and improved Nets and Knicks battling for a division title). But when you talk about a seven game series against the Sixers with Bynum on the block, their path to the Eastern Conference Finals just got much tougher. Does Bynum put the Sixers over the top? It’s tough to say, but you would have to think that a team that came within one game of eliminating the Celtics last season likes their chances in 2012-13. Bynum averaged 15.5 rebounds and 18 points in two games last season against the Celtics. In other words, the C’s had no answer for him.

But the Celtics Aren’t going to be the only team in the Atlantic that is affected by the trade, in fact,   it could impact the entire Atlantic Division more than any other involved. The Knicks are sure to improve on last year’s second place finish, and the addition of Joe Johnson makes the Nets a darkhorse in the division. What you have now is a division in which at least three of the five teams (possibly a fourth) has a legitimate shot at finishing at the top. In essence, the Howard deal means this: The Atlantic Division is now the most competitive division on the NBA.