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Big Al's plea

Print | Comments () Posted by Jesse Nunes December 12, 2006 12:16 AM

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You know the Celtics players are aware of the rumors swirling around Allen Iverson's next destination, but after the C's hung on for a victory against the Knicks in New York, Al Jefferson confirmed it.

After putting together his second straight great game, Big Al was asked in a postgame interview by play-by-play man Mike Gorman if the rumors of an impending trade, of which Al could be a part, has motivated him these past few days. Al's response:

"Nobody wants to go anywhere. I mean, A.I. is a great player, and I know he'd be great here. But we don't want to break this team up, because we don't want to give up on ourselves right now, you know? We know we can do this. We know we can. And especially I don't want to go nowhere, and I know if he comes here, there's a 9-of-10 chance I'm leaving. I don't think me, [Tony Allen], [Delonte West], none of us … we don't want to leave here … we want to be in Green. So, I think it has brought it together, I know it made me step up, too, because like I said, I don't really want to go nowhere. I want to be here."

The first thing that struck me in Al's quote was his use of "we" as in "we don't want to break this team up." From Paul Pierce's comments a few days ago, he doesn't seem to be a part of "we", as he certainly seems to be receptive of the idea of bringing A.I. to the Celtics:

"He's a great player and I think he deserves better," Pierce said. "[If we played together], it would be a thing about respect. You've got two All-Stars on one team. I have a lot of respect for his game and I'm sure he has a lot of respect [for mine] after years going against each other. To get a caliber of player like Allen Iverson, who would turn that down? It would be great to get him."

To hear Pierce openly lobby to play alongside Iverson while at the same time knowing a few of his young teammates -- Al chief among them -- would be shipped out in the deal seemed like bad form to me. Sure, I think Paul was being honest in his desire to play alongside the seven-time All Star, but it always rubs me the wrong way when players lobby for trades not involving themselves.

What good can come of it? If the trade doesn't happen, Paul's teammates will forever know that he would welcome a deal that sent them out of town. At the very least, Paul should tell the media that A.I. is a great player and whatever happens, happens. But to talk about making a personnel move that would directly affect more than a few of his teammates seems like bad leadership to me, no matter who would be coming back in return.

As for Al, he has obviously handled all of the rumors in the best way possible: by going out and playing his butt off. He even acknowledged that the rumors have affected him and forced him to work harder. Some may say that says something about Al's work ethic, but I am just glad that he was able to get past any potential internal turmoil and to increase his performance. He is certainly making a good case lately as to why he'd be worth hanging on to.

Once again, the unpredictable nature of the C's and their penchant to go on -- and then give up -- huge runs led to a game that was closer than it should have been. But unlike many of their other late-game collapses, they were actually able to hold on for the win. Yes, it was the Knicks they were playing, so any praise has to be tempered, but it's still a tough mental hurdle to overcome when you're on the road, the home team has momentum and the crowd on their side in the late minutes of the game, and you still come out with the win.

Big Al's big night came mostly in the first quarter, where he met the challenge of a confident Eddy Curry and dominated the Knicks big man early, putting a clamp on Curry on the boards, using his quick offensive moves for quality hoops and -- most impressively -- playing solid, physical defense that limited Curry's offensive output early on.

Al didn't play in the second quarter (and if he did, his numbers would have been much, much higher than the 14 points, 12 boards and 4 blocks he ended with), and then had some trouble guarding Curry in the second half. But Al still continued to work the glass the rest of the game and got a key hoop and a foul midway through the fourth to stunt the Knicks' comeback.

A.I. comments aside, Pierce had another huge game and carried the C's offense early on as he absolutely dominated Quentin Richardson. There was absolutely nothing Q could do on defense against Paul, and the Celtics recognized this and went to their captain early and often. Pierce and the rest of the C's got sloppy with the ball in the second half (although the Knicks' defensive effort and pressure was impressive) and Paul had a few of those "dribble into traffic, pick up the dibble, get stripped of the ball" turnovers. But he also put in extra effort to get the key rebounds down the stretch and hit a big three-pointer late to stop the bleeding, and was the main reason the C's were able to hang on for the win.

When Brian Scalabrine hit his second of two three-pointers in the second quarter, Tommy screamed out "Oh, Baby!!" with the exact same inflection in his voice as the annoying announcer of those Street Ball "games." It wasn't intentional, mind you, as I can't imagine that Tommy is a connoisseur of the Street Ball. It may also be the first time anyone's screamed "Oh, Baby!" after a play by Scalabrine.

All kidding aside, though, Scal played yet another solid game (he even got cheated on a foul or two) and was the third-leading scorer with nine points -- all on threes. Yet I still will never feel comfortable when Brian is bombing them from outside. He was much more effective against the Nets when he was sliding under the basket to fight for offensive boards and receive passes for a couple of hoops and fouls.

Leon Powe filled in quite admirably for Al in the second quarter, as he played solid D on Curry and even was able to score in the post against the big man. Powe finished the game with 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-1 from the line), 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 14 minutes of action. That's excellent production from the second-to-last guy on the bench.

Gerald Green came back to earth a little, failing to even take a shot in only 6 minutes of action, but that can mostly be attributed to Tony Allen's strong start and the need for Tony's defense down the stretch. And as up-and-down as Tony's D has been this year, his effort against Jamal Crawford with under a minute left was reminiscent of those great defensive stands he had against the likes of Iverson last year.

Still, it shows how this roster is still so crowded that guys can't rely on consistent minutes game-to-game unless there are injuries at their position (see Jefferson, Al). If there's one byproduct of any trade that I'd be happy with, it would be the paring down of a roster that is too heavy at times to carry its own weight.