Pre-season Smells Nice

The Raptors came back to the hanger for last night’s pre-season home opener…

But before we get ahead of ourselves, there is much to be told, in leading up to tip-off.

So I head to the station to pick up what will be my equipment for the year. Instead of a minidisc player/recorder, I was given what’s called a ‘Marantz’ (look it up if you want to). Essentially, it’s a big hunk of black plastic that’s about 4 times the size of a minidisc player. The advantage?? Well aside from it helping increase the raw hulking mass that represent my shoulders, I can dump the audio via download, as opposed to re-recording it onto the computer real-time.

So I get my equipment (which includes a mic that’s got a little afro at the top) and head down to the ACC for an off-the-record talk with the referee crew.

It was pretty cool.

3 refs (including the near-legendary Jess Kersey) opened up a discussion talking about some minor tweaks to the officiating. 4 points of emphasis:

-Freedom of movement (Ferg, watch that “airplaning” – RIP Cory Lidle)
-Marginal vs. Illegal contact (discussing the delicate art of the block/charge)
-Interaction and Communication with the coaches (subs, timeouts – coaches can call them now)
-Complaining and Questioning the refs…

You may have heard of what Rasheed Wallace is calling the “Sheed Rule…” that’s just an example of how the refs plan to speed up the game. No bickering, sulking or whining… let alone punting basketballs in the air/stands.

Players will now get sent to their rooms.

After a quick video, and ensuing discussion, the refs handed out tests… but then the answers. So mine remains in my note-book. Blank.

On to the free pizza. Good times.

En route to the media center, I head courtside to find my seat… only, there is no seat for me. Press box, or ‘gondola’ it is. It sounds like it may be for the year, too. I’ll keep you posted.

Alright, so I’ll fast forward to the game, now…

The first half was as sloppy as your usual pre-season game.

After the break, the play was cleaned up quickly. While the slap-happy Raptors were committing fouls every 2 seconds (the Celtics had 26 FT attempts in the first half alone) over the first 24 minutes, those chops turned into steals, and transition buckets.

...The final 2 minutes got pretty crazy...

Jose Calderon poetically drew a charge on Allan Ray, while Boston was running a 2-on-1...

Rajon Rondo (the Celts’ rook out of Kentucky), then drilled a 3 pointer – one of many clutch buckets to come.

Mo Pete hit an ‘And-1’ from just inside the arc, with 34.2 seconds left… and the crowd went playoff crazy (I guess that’s what free pizza does for somebody).

After a couple of Anthony Parker free-throws following a HUGE defensive rebound, Rondo hit another cold-blooded 3… this one beating the buzzer to send it into overtime.

He’d drill another in overtime… but Jorge Garbajosa one-upped him, hitting a pair from downtown, to finish with 18 points (4/8 behind the arc)…

The Raptors beat the Celtics, 118-112 in Overtime.

After the game, in which I may have bitten off every nail I could chew (the ladies love it), I went to talk to the Celtics (probably one of my last chances to talk to the away team, as this year, I’m dealing with the Raps).

First up, Coach Doc Rivers…

“Doc, it is just the pre-season, but already Rajon’s showing signs of being pretty cold-blooded,” I said.
“Yeah, he is. I mean, the 3 he made was huge. I really thought both he and Sebastien [Telfair] really, in the last 5 minutes of the game, imposed their will on the game and allowed us to get back in it. So that’s a great sign, any time you’ve got 2 guards who can do what they did, it will always keep you in the basketball game.”

In terms of Paul Pierce, like Chris Bosh (22 points, 9/11 FG’s, 4 boards), he had his way (23 points, 8/10 FG’s) with the opposition. But both barely played more than 20 minutes (in Pierce’s case, 21).

“Is it almost an unwritten rule that a team’s star only plays 20 or so minutes?”
“I guess, you know… I’m gonna play our guys a little bit more as [the preseason] goes on. They didn’t really have anyone for Paul, so I just thought it was a pretty safe move to take him off the floor. He wasn’t playing bad at the time, so I thought it’d be a good time to take him off.”

So then we stroll into the Celtics locker room… Paul Pierce is standing by himself in the near corner, fully dressed and ready to go.

“Paul, you cool to talk?”
“Umm… lets wait for our beat writers, first, then we can do it all- wait… what’s that you’re working with there?”
“It’s called a Marantz.”
“I’m not talking to you on that cheap thing.”
“Man, I know it looks like it’s garbage… but this is actually the new thing.”
”I can get one of those for $12 on the New York streets.”
“Can you pick me up an extra one, then?”

We waited another couple minutes for the other reporters to roll in… and the lights came on.

A Boston reporter got in the first question… asking about progress in the preseason… Pierce mentioned something about the team taking baby-steps.

My turn:
“It didn’t look like Rondo needed very many baby-steps, himself…”
“He’s mature for his age. He spent two years in a good system [Kentucky], he’s a high school All-American. He’s very poised for a rookie coming in, I mean, he just seems like he’s been here for a couple of years already… the way he’s calm out there, understands the tempo, and our style of play. He goes out there and dictates that. He’s doing a great job for us these first few games.”

Then it was onto Rondo, himself. He finished with a game-high 29 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 3 steals…

“Rajon, you’ll be seeing this court a few times this upcoming year… but you already put a big dent in it…”
“Well, you know… it’s pre-season. You know it’s all about the win, so… I think I played decent, but the win would have been better.”

Wait… the pre-season’s all about the win?? Please, I can smell bullshit on a bull's ass anyday… (I just choose not to)

“Sure, it’s nice to get a win… but coming in as a rookie, you want to build up that confidence. From a personal standpoint, this performance has got to feel pretty good…”
“The leaders on the team, you know… Paul [Pierce] and Wally [Szczerbiak], they instill the confidence in me. They go out there, and tell me to play like I’ve been in the league for a long time. And coach is giving me the green light to shoot whenever, so, you know… he thinks I’ve got a good line to see the floor, and either shoot or pass. I’m trying to work on that right now.”

I got my clips… got back to the station… and did my report quickly and without pain.

It may be pre-season, but I feel like I won this one, too.

I’m covering a practice on Saturday, and then the game on Sunday… so we’ll speak over the weekend.

Good talk. I’ll see you out there.